LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


COPYRIGHT,  1881, 
BY  D.  LOTHEOP  &  Co. 


DEDICATION. 

«  To  one  who  joined  with  us  in  sorrow  true, 
And  bowed  her  crownid  head  above  our  slain." 


90,356 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY  REV.  A.  J.  GORDON,  D.  D. 

MOKE  eloquent  voices  for  Christ  and  the  gospel  have 
never  come  from  the  grave  of  a  dead  President  than 
those  which  we  hear  from  the  tomb  of  our  lamented 
chief  magistrate. 

Twenty-six  years  ago  this  summer  a  company  of 
college  students  had  gone  to  the  top  of  Greylock  Moun 
tain,  in  Western  Massachusetts,  to  spend  the  night.  A 
very  wide  outlook  can  be  gained  from  that  summit. 
But  if  you  will  stand  there  with  that  little  company 
to-day,  you  can  see  farther  than  the  bounds  of  Massa 
chusetts  or  the  bounds  of  New  England,  or  the  bounds 
of  the  Union.  James  A.  Garfield  is  one  of  that  band 
of  students ;  and  as  the  evening  shades  gather,  he  rises 
up  among  the  group  and  says,  "  Classmates,  it  is  my 
habit  to  read  a  portion  of  God's  Word  before  retiring 
to  rest.  Will  you  permit  me  to  read  aloud?"  And 
then  taking  in  his  hand  a  pocket  Testament,  he  reads 
in  that  clear,  strong  voice  a  chapter  of  Holy  Writ,  and 
calls  upon  a  brother  student  to  offer  prayer.  "  How 
far  the  little  candle  throws  its  beams ! "  It  required 
real  principle  to  take  that  stand  even  in  such  a  com 
pany.  Was  that  candle  of  the  Lord  afterward  put  out 
amid  the  dampening  and  unfriendly  influences  of  a  long 
political  life?  It  would  not  be  strange.  Many  a  Chris 
tian  man  has  had  his  religious  testimony  smothered 
amid  the  stifling  and  vitiated  air  of  party  politics,  till 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

instead  of  a  clear  light,  it  has  given  out  only  the  flicker 
and  foulness  of  a  "  smoking  wick." 

But  pass  on  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  young 
student  has  become  a  man.  He  has  been  in  contact  for 
years  with  the  corrupting  influences  of  political  life. 
Let  us  see  where  he  stands  now.  In  the  great  Repub 
lican  Convention  at  Chicago  he  is  a  leading  figure. 
The  meetings  have  been  attended  with  unprecedented 
excitement  through  the  week.  Sunday  has  come,  and 
such  is  the  strain  of  rivalry  between  contending  fac 
tions  that  most  of  the  politicians  spend  the  entire  day 
in  pushing  the  interests  of  their  favorite  candidates. 
But  on  that  Lord's  day  morning  Mr.  Garfield  is  seen 
quietly  wending  his  way  to  the  house  of  God.  His 
absence  being  remarked  upon  to  him  next  day,  he  said, 
in  reply,  "I  have  more  confidence  in  the  prayers  to 
God  which  ascended  in  the  churches  yesterday,  than  in 
all  the  caucusing  which  went  on  in  the  hotels." 

He  had  great  interests  at  stake  as  the  promoter 
of  the  nomination  of  a  favorite  candidate.  When 
so  much  was  pending,  might  he  not  be  allowed  to 
use  the  Sunday  for  defending  his  interest  ?  So  many 
would  have  reasoned.  But.  no !  amid  the  clash  of  con 
tending  factions  and  the  tumult  of  conflicting  interests, 
there  is  one  politician  that  heard  the  Word  of  God 
sounding  in  his  ear :  "  Six  days  shalt  thou  labor  and 
do  all  thy  work,  but  the  seventh  is  the  Sabbath  of  the 
Lord  thy  God;  in  it  thou  shalt  not  do  any  work." 
And,  at  the  bidding  of  the  Divine  command,  his  con 
science  marches  him  away  to  the  house  of  God.  Not, 
indeed,  to  enjoy  the  luxury  of  hearing  some  famous 
preacher,  or  of  listening  to  some  superb  singing ;  but 
he  goes  to  one  of  the  obscurest  and  humblest  churches 


INTRODUCTION.  VU 

in  the  city,  because  there  is  where  he  belongs,  and  that 
is  the  church  which  he  has  covenanted  to  walk  with, 
as  a  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ.  "How  far"  again  "that 
little  candle  threw  its  beams !  "  It  was  a  little  thing, 
but  it  was  the  index  of  a  principle,  an  index  that 
pointed  the  whole  American  people  upward  when  they 
heard  of  it.  Here  was  a  man  who  did  not  carry  a 
pocket-conscience  —  a  bundle  of  portable  convictions 
tied  up  with  a  thread  of  expediency.  Nay !  here  was 
a  man  whose  conscience  carried  him  —  his  master,  not 
his  menial ;  his  sovereign,  not  his  servant. 

And  when,  during  the  last  days  in  his  home  at  Men 
tor,  just  before  going  to  Washington  to  assume  his 
office,  he  was  entertaining  some  political  friends  at  tea, 
he  did  not  forego  evening  prayers,  for  fear  he  might 
be  charged  with  cant,  but,  according  to  his  custom, 
drew  his  family  together  and  opened  the  Scriptures 
and  bowed  in  prayer  in  the  midst  of  his  guests.  And 
his  was  a  religious  principle  that  found  expression  in 
action  as  well  as  in  prayer.  A  lady  residing  in  Wash 
ington  told  us  that  while  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  he  was  accustomed  to  work  faithfully 
in  the  Sunday-school,  and  that  among  his  last  acts  was 
the  recruiting  of  a  class  of  young  men  and  teaching 
them  in  the  Bible.  We  know  from  his  pastor  that  he 
was  not  too  busy  to  be  found  often  in  the  social  meet 
ings  of  the  church,  nor  too  great  to  be  above  praying 
and  exhorting  in  the  little  group  of  Christians  with 
whom  he  met.  A  practical  Christian,  did  we  say? 
He  must  have  been  a  spiritual  Christian  also.  There 
is  one  address  of  his  in  Congress  that  made  a  great 
impression  on  our  mind  as  we  read  it.  He  was  deliv 
ering  a  brief  eulogy  on  some  deceased  Senator  —  I 


V1U  INTRODUCTION. 

think  it  was  Senator  Ferry.  He  spoke  of  him  as  a 
Christian,  not  a  formalist,  but  a  devout  and  godly  dis 
ciple  of  Christ.  And  then  he  spoke  of  the  rest  into 
which  he  had  entered,  and  quoted  with  great  effect 
that  beautiful  hymn  of  Bonar's :  — 

"Beyond  the  smiling  and  the  weeping, 

I  shall  be  soon. 

Beyond  the  waking  and  the  sleeping, 
Beyond  the  sowing  and  the  reaping, 
I  shall  be  soon. 

Love,  rest,  and  home,  sweet  home, 
Lord,  tarry  not,  but  come." 

And  taking  the  key  from  these  last  words,  he  said : 
"Yes,  when  the  Lord  comes  there  will  be  no  more 
weeping,  no  more  sorrow*  no  more  death.  ''Even  so 
come.  Lord  Jesus?  " 

We  believe  that  only  a  man  of  real  spiritual,  evan 
gelical  faith  could  have  uttered  those  words.  And 
when  we  think  how  rarely  such  a  man  has  filled  the 
presidential  chair,  we  feel  overwhelmed  at  the  loss. 

Let  us  praise  God  that  for  once  we  have  had  a  Presi-. 
dent  who  could  shine  in  the  most  illustrious  position  in 
the  nation,  and  yet  light  up  for  us  the  humblest  walks 
of  Christian  obedience.  Here  is  one  who  ruled  and 
who  served ;  who  was  a  leader  of  the  people  and  a  fol 
lower  of  Christ.  The  seat  where  he  sat  as  ruler  of 
fifty  millions  will  speak  to  generations  yet  to  come,  tell 
ing  them  how  righteousness  exalteth  a  ruler ;  and  the 
little  stream  where  he  was  baptized  will  tell  perpet 
ually,  as  it  flows  on,  how  it  "becometh  us  to  fulfil  all 
righteousness." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  "  Great  Heart  of  ihe  People."  —  Bereaved  of  their  Chief.  — 
Universal  Mourning.  —  Wondering  Query  of  Foreign  Na 
tions.  —  Humble  Birth  in  Log  Cabin.  —  The  Frontier  Settle 
ments  in  Ohio.  —  Untimely  death  of  Father.  —  Struggles  of 
the  Family 11 

CHAPTER  II. 

Boyhood  of  James.  —  Attempts  at  Carpentry.  —  First  Earnings.  — 
His  Thirst  for  Knowledge.  —  The  Garfield  Coat-of -Arms.  — 
Ancestry,  etc 21 

CHAPTER  HI. 

Life  at  the  "  Black-Salter's."  — James  wants  to  go  to  Sea.  — His 
Mother  will  not  give  her  Consent.  —  Hires  out  as  a  Wood- 
chopper.  —  His  Powerful  Physique.  —  His  Strength  of  Char 
acter  25 

CHAPTER  IV. 

James  still  longs  for  the  Sea.  —  Experience  with  a  Drunken  Cap 
tain.— Change  of  Base.— Life  on  the  Canal  30 

CHAPTER  V. 

Narrow  Escape  from  Drowning.  —  Return  Home.  —  Severe  Ill 
ness. —  James  determines  to  fit  himself  for  a  Teacher. — 
Geauga  Seminary.  —  Personal  Appearance. — Dr.  Robinson's 
Verdict  .  . 36 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Low  state  of  Finances.  —  James  takes  up  Carpentry  again.  —  The 
Debating  Club.  —  Bread  and  Milk  Diet.  —  First  Experience 


Xli  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

Tide  of  Unpopularity.  —  Misjudged.  — Vindicated.  — Re-elected. 

—  The  De  Golyer  Contract. — The  Salary  Increase  Question. 

—  Incident  Related  by  President  Hinsdale 154 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Credit  Mobilier.  —  Garfield  entirely  Cleared  of  all  Charges 
Against  him. —  Tribute  to  him  in  Cincinnati  Gazette. — Elect 
ed  U.  S.  Senator.  —  Extract  from  Speech.  —  Sonnet  ...  160 

CHAPTER  XXH. 

After  the  Ordeal. —  Unanimous  Vote  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Ohio. —  Extract  from  Garfield's  Speech  of  Acceptance.  — Pur 
chase  of  the  Farm  at  Mentor. — Description  of  the  New 
House. —  Life  at  Mentor. —  The  Garfield  Household.— Long 
ing  for  Home  in  his  Last  Hours  167 

CHAPTER  XXIH. 

Republican  Convention  at  Chicago.  —  The  Three  Prominent  Can 
didates.  —  Description  of  Conkling.  —  Logan.  —  Cameron. — 
Description  of  Garfield. — Resolution  Introduced  by  Conk- 
ling.  —  Opposition  of  West  Virginians.  —  Garfield's  Concilia 
tory  Speech. —  His  Oration  in  Behalf  of  Sherman.  —  Opinions 
of  the  Press 174 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Battle  still  Undecided.  —  Sunday  among  the  delegates.  — 
Garfield's  Remark.  —  Monday  another  Day  of  Doubt.  — The 
Dark  Horse.  — -The  Balloting  on  Tuesday.  —  Garfield's  Re 
monstrance. —  He  is  Unanimously  Elected  on  the  Thirty- 
sixth  Ballot. — Enthusiastic  Demonstrations,  Congratulatory 
Speeches  and  Telegrams. —  His  Speech  of  Acceptance  .  .  187 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Return  Home. —  Ovations  on  the  Way. — Address  at  Hiram  In 
stitute. —  Impromptu  Speech  at  Washington. —  Incident  of 
the  Eagle,—  The  Tract  Distributor 196 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

News  of  the  Nomination  Received  with  Delight.  —  Mr.  Robeson 
speaks  for  the  Democrats  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  — 
Ratification  Meeting  at  Williams  College. —  Governor  Long's 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 


Opinion. —  Hotly-contested  Campaign. —  Garfield  Receives  the 
Majority  of  Votes. —  Is  Elected  President  on  the  Second  of 
November,  1880.—  Extract  from  Letter  of  an  Old  Pupil.— 
Review  of  Garfield's  Congressional  Life. —  His  own  Feel 
ings  in  Regard  to  the  Election  201 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

At  Mentor. —  The  Journey  to  Washington. —  Inauguration  Day. 

—  Immense  Concourse  of  People. —  The  Address. —  Sworn 
into  Office. —  Touching  Scene. —  Grand  Display. —  Inaugura 
tion  Ball. —  Announcement  of  the  Members  of  the  Cabinet. 

—  Two  Great  Problems. —  How   they  were   Solved. —  Dis 
graceful  Rupture  in  the  Senate. —  Prerogative  of  the  Execu 
tive  Office  vindicated 207 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

The  President  Plans  a  Ten-Days'  Pleasure-Trip.—  Morning  of 
the  Fateful  Day. —  Secretary  Elaine  Accompanies  him  to  the 
Station. — A  Mysterious-looking  Character. —  Sudden  Report 
of  a  Pistol.— The  President  Turns  and  Receives  the  Fatal 
Shot. —  Arrest  of  the  Assassin. —  The  President  Recovers 
Consciousness  and  is  Taken  Back  to  the  White  House  .  .  214 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

At  the  White  House.  — The  Anxious  Throngs.  — Examination  of 
the  Wounds.  —  The  President's  Questions.  —  His  Willing 
ness  to  Die.  — Waiting  for  his  Wife.  —  Sudden  Relapse.  —  A 
Glimmer  of  Hope. — A  Sunday  of  Doubt. —Independence 
Day.— Remarks  of  George  William  Curtis 218 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  Assassin. — What  were  his  motives. — His  own  Confessions. 
—  Statement  of  District- Attorney  Corkhill.  —  Sketch  of  Gui 
teau's  Early  Life 227 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Night  of  the  Fourth.  —  Extreme  Solicitude  at  the  White  House. 
— Description  of  an  Eye-witness.  —  Attorney  McVeagh's 
Remark.  —  Sudden  Change  for  the  Better.  —  Steady  Im 
provement.  — The  Medical  Attendance 233 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

A  Relapse.— Cooling  Apparatus  at  the  White  House. —The 
President  writea  a  Letter  to  his  Mother.  —  Evidences  of 


XIV  CONTENTS. 


Blood-Poisoning.  —  Symptoms  of  Malaria.  —  Removal  to 
Long  Branch.—  Preparation  for  the  Journey.  —  Incidents  by 
the  Way 238 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

Description  of  the  Francklyn  Cottage. — The  Arrival  at  Long 
Branch.  —  The  President  is  Drawn  up  to  the  Open  Window. 

—  Enjoys  the  Sea  Vie\y  and  the  Sea  Breezes.  —  The  Surgical 
Force  Reduced.  —  Incident  on  the  Day  of  Prayer     ....    245 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Hopeful  Symptoms.  —  Official  Bulletin.  — Telegram  to  Minister 
Lowell.  —  Incidents  at  Long  Branch.  —  Sudden  Change  for 
the  Worse. — Touching  Scene  with  his  Daughter.  —  Another 
Gleam  of  Hope.  —  Death  ends  the  Brave  Heroic  Struggle.  — 
The  Closing  Scene 252 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The    Midnight    Bells  —Universal    Sorrow.  —  Queen  Victoria's 
Message. — Extract  from  a  London  Letter.  —  The  Whithy 
Fishermen. — The    Yorkshire    Peasant.  —  World-wide    De- 
'  monstrations  of  Grief 260 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Services  at  Elberon.  — Journey  to  Washington.  — Lying  in 
State.  —  Queen  Victoria's  Offering.  —  Impressive  Ceremonies 
in  the  Capitol  Rotunda 266 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Journey  to  Cleveland.  — Lying  in  State  in  the  Catafalque  in  the 
Park.  —  Immense  Concourse.  —  Funeral  Ceremonies.  —  Fa 
vorite  Hymn.— At  the  Cemetery  273 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Lakeview  Cemetery .  —  Talk  with  Garfield's  Mother.  —  First 
Church  where 'he  Preached.  — His  Religious  Experience. 

—  Garfield  as  a  Preacher 280 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

The  Sunday  Preceding  the  Burial.  —  The  Crowded  Churches. — 
The  one  Theme  that  Absorbed  all  Hearts.  —  Across  the 
Water.  —  At  Alexandra  Palace.  —At  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  — 
At  Westminster  Abbey.  —  Paris.  —  Berlin.  —  Extract  from 
London  Times 287 


CONTENTS.  XV 


CHAPTER  XL. 

National  Day  of  Mourning1.  —  Draping  of  Public  Buildings  and 
Private  Residences.  — Touching  Incident.  —  Tributes  to  Gar- 
field.  —  Senator  Hoar's  Address.  —  Whittier's  Letter.  —  Sen 
ator  Dawes'  Remarks 290 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

Subscription  Fund  for  the  President's  Family. — Ready  Generosity 
of  the  People.  — Touching  Incident.  —  Total  Amount  of  the 
Fund.  —  How  the  Money  was  Invested.  —  Project  for  Me 
morial  Hospital  in  Washington.  —  Cyrus  W.  Field's  Gift  of 
Memorial  Window  to  Williams  College.  —  Garfield's  Affection 
for  his  Alma  Mater.  —  Reception  given  Mark  Hopkins  and  the 
Williams  Graduates.  —Garfield's  Address  to  his  Classmates,  301 

CHAPTER  XLH. 

Removal  of  the  President's  Remains. — Monument  Fund  Com 
mittee. —  Garfield  Memorial  in  Boston.  —  Extracts  from 
Address  by  Hon.  N.  P.  Banks 306 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Southern  Feeling.  —Memorial  Services  at  Jefferson,  Kentucky.— 
Extracts  from  Address  by  Henry  Watterson  —  Senator  Bay 
ard.  —  Ex-Speaker  Randall.  —  Senator  Hill.  —Extracts  from 
some  of  the  Southern  Journals 328 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 

Extracts  from  some  of  the  President's  Private  Letters  to  a  Friend 
in  Boston,  bearing  the  same  Family  Name.  — To  Corydon  E. 
Fuller,  a  College  Classmate 336 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

Reminiscences  of  Corydon  E.  Fuller.  — Of  one  of  the  Pupils  at 
Hiram  Institute.  —  Garfield's  Keen  Observation.  —  His  Kind 
ness  of  Heart.  — Anecdote-  of  the  Game  of  Ball.  — Of  the 
Lame  Girl  in  Washington.  —  Of  Brown  the  ex-Scout  and  old 
Boat  Companion 353 

CHAPTER  XL VI. 

Remarks  of  a  Personal  Friend.— Reminiscences  of  the  Presi 
dent's  Cousin,  Hemy  Boynton.  —  Garfield  as  a  Freemason.  360 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XLVIT. 

Poems  in  Memory  of  Garfield,  by  Longfellow.  —  George  Parsons 
Lathrop. — From  London  Spectator. — Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 
—  H.  Bernard  Carpenter.  — John  Boyle  O'Reilly.  — Joaquin 
Miller.  — M.  J.  Savage.  — Julia  Ward  Howe.  — Rose  Terry 
Cooke.  — Prize  Ode.  — Kate  Tannett  Woods 368 


CHAPTER  XL VIII. 

Currency.  —  Lincoln.  —  The  Draft.  —  Slavery.  —  Independence. 
The  Rebellion. — Protection  and  Free-Trade. — Education. 
—  William  H  Seward. — Fourteenth  Amendment.  —  Classi 
cal  Studies.  —  History.  —  Liberty.  —  Statistics.  —  Poverty.  — 
The  Salary  Question.  —  The  Railway  Problem.  —  Elements  of 
Success.  —  Law. —  The  Revenue.  —  Statesmanship.  —  Rela 
tion  of  Government  to  Science.  —  Gustave  Schleicher.  —  Suf 
frage.  —  Union  of  the  North  and  South.  —  Appeal  to  Young 
Men.  —  Inaugural 


ADDENDA. 

Remarkable  Military  Document  by  Garfield 494 

Official  report  of  the  post-mortem  examination  of  Garfield's  body  .  505 

Senator  Hoar's  Address 520 

Hon.  James  G.  Elaine's  Eulogy 544 

A  Threnody 584 


LIFE  OF  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD. 


CHAPTER    I. 

The  "Great  Heart  of  the  People."— Bereaved  of  their  Chief.— Uni 
versal  Mourning. — Wondering  Query  of  Foreign  Nations. — 
Humble  Birth  in  Log  Cabin.  —The  Frontier  Settlements  in  Ohio. 
—  Untimely  Death  of  Father.  —  Struggles  of  the  Family. 

"  TJie  great  heart  of  the  people  will  not  let  the 
old  soldier  die!" 

So  murmured  the  brave,  patient  sufferer  in  his 
sleep  that  terrible  July  night,  when  the  whole 
nation,  stricken  down  with  grief  and  consternation 
at  the  assassin's  deed,  watched,  waited,  prayed — 
as  one  man  —  for  the  life  of  their  beloved  President. 

And  all  through  those  weary  eighty  days  that 
followed,  of  alternate  hope  and  fear,  how  truly  the 
great,  loving,  sympathetic  heart  of  the  people 
did  battle,  with  millions  of  unseen  weapons,  for 
the  strong,  heroic  spirit  that  never  faltered,  never 
gave  up  "the  one  chance,"  even  while  he  whispered  : 
"  God's  will  be  done  ;  I  am  ready  to  go  if  my  time 
has  come." 

Party  differences  were  all  forgotten ;  there  was 
no  longer  any  North  or  South  —  only  one  common 


12  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

brotherhood,     one    great,    sorrowing    household 
watching  with  tender  solicitude  beside  the  death- 

o 

bed  of  their  loved  one. 

How  anxiously  the  varying  bulletins  were 
studied !  How  eagerly  the  faintest  glimmer  of 
hope  was  seized !  And  when,  on  that  never-to- 
be-forgotten  anniversary  of  Chickamauga's  battle, 
the  midnight  bells  tolled  out  their  solemn  requiem, 

"  The  nation  sent 

Like  Egypt,  in  her  tenth  and  final  blow, 
Through  all  the  land  a  loud  and  bitter  cry; 
And  felt,  like  her,  as  o'er  her  dead  she  bent, 
There  is  in  every  home  a  present  woe ! " 

And  yet,  with  renewed  fervor,  we  repeat  those 
pathetic  words  : 

"  The  great  heart  of  the  people  will  not  let  the 
old  soldier  die!" 

While  bowing  reverently,  submissively  to  the 
decree  of  the  Almighty  Disposer  of  human  affairs, 
the  nation  feels  that  "no  canon  of  earth  or 
Heaven  can  forbid  the  enshrining  of  his  manly 
virtues  and  grand  character,  so  that  after-genera 
tions  may  profit  by  the  contemplation  of  them." 

A  halo  of  immortal  glory  already  gathers  around 
the  name  of  James  A.  Garfield. 

The  remembrance  of  his  brave,  self-forgetting 
endurance  of  pain,  his  strong,  indomitable  will, 
his  tender  regard  for  his  aged  mother,  his  simple, 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  13 

unaffected  piety,  his  cheerful  resignation,  will 
never  be  effaced  from  the  heart  of  the  people. 

And  when  expressions  of  sympathy  and  regret 
came  to  America  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  the 
wondering  query  arose : 

"  How  is  it  that  republican  manners  and  repub 
lican  institutions  can  produce  such  a  king  among 
men  as  President  Garfield?" 

Let  us  go  back  to  that  humble  log  cabin  in  the 
wilds  of  Ohio  where,  fifty  years  ago,  a  little  fair- 
haired,  blue-eyed  boy  was  born. 

It  is  a  bleak,  bitter  day  in  November,  and  the 
whistling  of  the  winds  through  the  crevices, 
mingles  with  the  howl  of  hungry  wolves  in  the 
woods  close  by. 

But  the  new  baby  finds  a  warm  welcome  waiting 
him  in  that  rough  cabin  home.  The  mother's  love 
is  fully  reflected  in  the  honest  face  of  the  great, 
warm-hearted  father,  as  he  folds  the  little  stranger 
in  his  strong  arms,  and  declares  he  is  "  worth  his 
weight  in  gold." 

Thomas,  a  boy  of  nine  years,  with  Mehetabel 
and  Mary,  the  two  little  sisters,  look  wonderingly 
upon  their  baby  brother,  and  then  run  out  to 
spread  the  good  news  through  the  neighborhood. 

In  those  early  days  the  frontier  settlements 
seemed  like  one  family,  so  interested  were  all  in 
the  joys  and  sorrows  of  each. 

Eighteen  months  later,  when  the  brave,  strong 


14  LIFE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OP 

father  was  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  his  work,  a 
circle  of  true-hearted,  sympathizing  friends  stood, 
like  a  body-guard,  around  the  little  family. 

One  of  those  dreaded  forest  fires  had  been 
raging  for  days  through  the  tract  of  country  ad 
joining  the  Garfield  farm.  With  the  aid  of  his 
older  children,  Mehetabel  and  Thomas,  the  father 
had  at  last  checked  the  flames,  but,  sitting  down 
to  rest  by  the  open  door,  he  took  a  severe  cold 
which  brought  on  congestion  of  the  throat. 

Before  a  physician  could  be  called  he  was  past 
all  human  aid,  and,  looking  wistfully  upon  his 
children  and  heart-broken  wife,  he  said,  with 
dying  breath, — 

"I  am  going  to  leave  you,  Eliza.  I  have 
planted  four  saplings  in  these  woods,  and  I  must 
now  leave  them  to  your  care." 

The  blue-eyed  baby,  who  bore  his  father's  name, 
could  not  understand  the  sorrowful  faces  about 
him,  and,  toddling  up  to  the  bedside,  he  put  his 
little  hands  on  the  cold  lips,  and  called  "  Papa ! 
Papa ! "  till  the  weeping  mother  bore  him  out  of 
the  room. 

"What  will  become  of  those  poor,  fatherless 
children?"  said  one  neighbor  to  another. 

"It  is  a  strange  providence,"  was  the  reply. 
"  The  mother  is  too  young  and  too  frail  to  carry  on 
the  farm  alone.  She  will  have  to  sell  everything, 
and  find  homes  for  the  children  among1  her  friends." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  15 

But  Eliza  Garfield  was  not  the  weak,  dependent 
woman  they  had  imagined.  Moreover,  she  had 
one  brave  little  helper  close  at  hand. 

"  Don't  cry,  mother  dear,"  said  Thomas,  making 
a  great  effort  to  keep  back  his  own  tears.  "I  am 
ten  years  old  now,  you  know.  I  will  take  care 
of  you.  I  am  big  enough  to  plough  and  plant, 
and  cut  the  wood  and  milk  the  cows.  Don't  let  us 
give  up  the  farm.  I  will  work  ever  so  hard  if  we 
can  only  keep  together  !  " 

Noble  little  fellow !  No  wonder  the  mother's 
heart  grew  lighter  as  she  watched  his  earnest 
face. 

"You  are  not  strong  enough,  dear  child,  to  do 
all  that,"  she  said,  "  but  God  helping  us,  we  will 
keep  together.  I  will  sell  off  part  of  the  farm  to 
pay  our  debts,  and  we  shall  then  have  thirty  acres 
left,  which  will  be  quite  enough  for  you  and  me  to 
take  care  of." 

It  was  now  late  in  the  spring,  but  Thomas  man 
aged  to  sow  the  wheat,  plant  the  corn  and  pota 
toes,  and  with  the  help  of  a  kind  neighbor  complete 
the  little  barn  his  father  had  begun  to  build. 

In  cultivating  the  ground,  his  mother  and  sisters 
were  always  ready  to  help,  and  together  they 
split  the  rails,  and  drove  the  stakes  for  the  heavy 
fence  around  the  wheat-field. 

With  such  examples  of  untiring  industry  and 
perseverance  constantly  before  his  eyes,  it  is  no 


16  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

wonder  the  restless  baby  brother  soon  tried  to 
lend  a  helping  hand. 

"Me  do  it  too,"  he  would  cry,  when  Thomas 
took  down  the  rake  or  the  hoe,  and  started  off  for 
his  work  in  the  fields. 

"One  of  these  days,  Jimmy,"  the  boy-farmer 
would  reply,  with  a  merry  smile :  though  even 
then  he  could  not  help  hoping  there  might  be 
better  things  in  store  for  the  little  brother  he  loved 
so  dearly. 

Walking  all  the  way  to  Cleveland,  Thomas 
secures  a  little  job,  and  brings  home  his  first  earn 
ings,  with  a  bounding  heart. 

"  Now  Jimmy  can  have  a  pair  of  shoes,"  he  says 
to  his  mother  who  cannot  keep  back  her  tears  as 
she  looks  at  his  own  bare  feet. 

The  old  cobbler  comes  and  boards  at  the  cabin 
while  he  makes  the  little  shoes,  and  when  they  are 
completed  it  is  hard  to  tell  which  is  the  happier 
boy,  —  Thomas  or  little  Jimmy. 

Four  years  after  the  father's  death,  a  school- 
house  is  built  a  mile  and  a  half  away. 

"Jimmy  and  the  girls  must  go,"  says  Thomas. 

"Yes,"  replies  the  mother,  "but  I  wish  you 
could  go,  too." 

"It  wouldn't  do  for  me  to  leave  the  farm, 
mother  dear,"  says  the  noble  boy.  "  One  of  these 
days,  perhaps  I  can  study  at  home." 

The  mile  and  a  half  walk  to  the  school-house 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  17 

was  a  long,  hard  pull  for  little  Jimmy,  in  spite  of 
those  new  shoes ;  and  many  a  time  Mehetabel 
might  have  been  seen,  carrying  him  back  and 
forth  on  her  broad  shoulders. 

It  was  a  happy  day  for  all  the  children  when 
the  new  log  school-house  was  put  up  on  one  cor 
ner  of  the  Garfield  farm.  The  land  had  been 
given  by  Mrs.  Garfield,  and  the  neighbors  clubbed 
together  and  built  the  house,  which  was  only 
twenty  feet  square,  with  a  slab  roof,  a  puncheon 
floor,  and  log  benches  without  backs. 

The  master  was  a  young  man  from  New  Hamp 
shire.  He  boarded  with  Mrs.  Garfield,  and  be 
tween  him  and  little  James  a  warm  friendship  was 
soon  established. 

The  bright  active  child  was  never  tired  of  ask 
ing  questions. 

"He  will  make  his  mark  in  the  world,  one  of 
these  days — you  may  take  my  word  for  it !"  ex 
claimed  the  teacher,  as  he  recounted  James'  won 
derful  progress  at  school. 

The  happy  mother  never  forgot  these  words, 
and  determined  to  give  her  little  boy  every  possi 
ble  advantage. 

But  the  Ohio  schools  in  those  days  were  very 
poor.  The  three  "R's,"  with  spelling  and  geogra 
phy,  were  the  only  branches  taught,  and  oftentimes 
the  teachers  knew  but  little  more  than  the  scholars. 

As  soon  as  James  could  read,  he  eagerly  de- 


18  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

voured  every  book  that  came  within  his  reach. 
The  family  library  comprised  not  more  than  half 
a  dozen  volumes,  but  among  these,  Weems'  "  Life 
of  Marion"  and  Grimshaw's  "Napoleon"  were 
especial  favorites  with  the  eager  enthusiastic  boy. 

Every  night  the  mother  would  read  to  her 
children  from  her  old,  well-worn  Bible :  and 
oftentimes  James  would  puzzle  his  little  playmates 
with  unexpected  scripture  questions.  His  wonder 
ful  memory  held  a  strange  variety  of  information 
in  its  tenacious  grasp.  He  delighted  to  hear  his 
mother  read  poetry,  and  would  often  commit  long 
passages  by  heart.  His  vivid  imagination  peopled 
the  old  orchard  with  all  sorts  of  strange  characters. 
Each  tree  was  named  after  some  noted  Indian 
chief,  or  some  favorite  hero  he  had  read  about ; 
and  from  a  high  ledge  of  rocks  in  the  neighbor 
hood,  he  would  sometimes  deliver  long  harangues 
to  his  imaginary  audiences.  Thomas  watched  the 
progress  of  his  little  brother  with  fatherly  pride 
and  admiration,  and  James  looked  up  to  him  with 
loving  confidence. 

He  could  now  help  about  the  farm  in  many 
ways,  and  when  Thomas  got  an  opportunity  to 
work  out  and  earn  a  few  extra  pennies,  James 
would  look  after  the  stock,  chop  the  wood,  hoe 
the  corn,  and  help  his  mother  churn  and  milk. 

"  One  of  these  days,  James,"  she  said  to  him, 
as  he  was  working  diligently  by  her  side,  "  I  ex- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  19 

pect  Thomas  will  go  out  into  the  world  to  earn  his 
living,  and  then  you  will  have  to  take  his  place 
here  on  the  farm." 

"But,  how  soon  will  that  be,  mother?"  asked 
the  little  fellow,  who  felt  then  that  he  could  not 
possibly  get  along  without  his  big  brother. 

"  Not  until  Thomas  is  twenty-one,  and  then  you 
will  be  twelve  years  old  —  older  by  two  years  than 
Thomas  was  when  your  father  died." 

"  I  wish  I  could  be  as  good  a  farmer  as  he," 
said  James  ;  "  but  I  think  I  would  rather  be  a  car 
penter." 

"  And  I  would  rather  have  you  a  teacher  or  a 
preacher,"  said  his  mother ;  "  but  we  must  take 
our  work  just  as  Providence  gives  it  to  us,  and 
farming,  my  boy,  comes  first  to  you." 

It  was  a  trying  day  to  the  whole  family  when 
Thomas  left  the  little  home  to  work  on  a  clearing, 
"  way  off  in  Michigan."  He  would  be  gone  six 
months,  at  least,  and  there  was  very  little  com 
munication  in  those  days  between  Ohio  and  the 
farther  west. 

"  I  wish  you  could  have  found  work  nearer 
home,"  said  the  fond  mother. 

"  But  I  shall  earn  higher  wages  there — twelve 
dollars  a  month,"  —  answered  the  self-forgetting 
son ;  "  and,  when  I  get  back,  I  shall  have  money 
enough  to  build  you  a  frame  house." 

The  little  log  cabin  was  fast  coming  to  pieces, 


20  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OT 

and  for  five  years  Thomas  had  been  cutting  and 
seasoning  lumber  for  the  new  house,  but  they  had 
never  been  able  to  hire  a  carpenter  to  put  it  up. 

James  tried  very  hard  to  fill  his  brother's  place, 
but  he  could  never  throw  his  whole  soul  into  farm 
ing  as  Thomas  had  done.  He  read  and  studied 
all  the  time  he  could  get  out  of  working  hours, 
and  his  thirst  for  knowledge  was  constantly  in 
creasing.  But  how  was  he  to  procure  the  educa 
tion  for  which  he  longed  ? 

"  Providence  will  open  the  way,"  said  the  good 
mother ;  "  though  how  and  when  I  cannot  tell." 


JAMES   A.    GABFIELD.  21 


CHAPTER    H. 

Boyhood  of  James.  —  Attempts  at  Carpentry.  —  First  Earnings.  —  His 
Thirst  for  Knowledge.  — The  Garfield  Coat-of- Arms.  —  Ances 
try,  etc. 

True  to  his  promise,  Thomas  returned  in  a  few 
months  with  seventy-five  dollars  in  gold,  which 
seemed  a  great  sum  to  the  little  family. 

"  Now  you  shall  have  the  new  house,  mother," 
he  exclaimed  ;  and  it  was  not  many  days  after,  that 
the  carpenter  was  hired  and  the  work  begun. 

James  watched  the  building  with  keen,  observ 
ant  eyes.  Before  the  house  was  completed  he 
had  learned  a  good  part  of  the  trade  and  practised 
it  besides. 

"  I  think  I'll  have  to  employ  you  when  I  want 
an  extra  hand,"  laughed  the  good-natured  mechanic, 
as  he  noticed  how  cleverly  James  used  the  mallet, 
chisel  and  plane. 

"  I  wish  you  would ;  I  like  the  trade,"  exclaimed 
the  boy,  with  sudden  earnestness. 

After  the  family  had  moved  into  the  new  house, 
which  consisted  of  three  rooms  below  and  two 
above,  Thomas  went  back  to  his  work  in  Michi 
gan,  and  James  returned  to  his  labor  on  the  farm. 


22  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

But  the  boy's  restless  spirit  longed  for  a  wider 
field.  If  he  could  only  earn  a  little  money,  per 
haps  he  would  be  able  to  buy  a  few  books. 

Passing  the  carpenter's  shop  one  day,  he  saw  a 
pile  of  boards  at  the  door  waiting  to  be  planed. 
He  stepped  inside  and  asked  for  the  job,  which 
was  readily  given  him. 

"  I  will  give  you  a  cent  a  board,"  said  the  car 
penter,  "  for  I  know  you  will  do  them  well." 

"  How  soon  do  you  want  them  done  ?  "  asked 
James. 

"  Oh  !  it  doesn't  matter,"  answered  the  carpen 
ter  ;  "  take  your  own  time  for  them." 

"  All  right ! "  said  the  boy,  "  I'll  begin  early  to 
morrow  morning,  just  as  soon  as  I  get  through 
with  the  chores  on  the  farm." 

Before  night  he  had  planed  a  hundred  boards, 
and  each  board  was  twelve  feet  long ! 

He  asked  the  carpenter  to  come  and  count  them, 
lest  he  had  made  a  mistake. 

"  That  is  too  hard  a  day's  work  for  a  little  fellow 
like  you,"  exclaimed  the  astonished  man ;  "  but 
here  are  a  hundred  pennies,  as  I  promised  you." 

This  was  the  first  money  that  James  had  ever 
earned,  and  it  was  with  a  proud,  happy  heart  he 
emptied  his  load  of  coppers  that  night  into  his 
mother's  lap. 

It  was  not  a  diificult  matter  to  find  jobs  after 
that.  A  boy  who  could  plane  a  hundred  boards 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  23 

in  a  day  was  just  the  sort  of  help  the  enterprising 
carpenter  wanted.  Not  long  after,  he  engaged 
James  to  help  him  put  up  a  barn,  paying  him 
about  twenty  dollars  for  the  job. 

By  this  time  James  had  learned  about  all  he 
could  in  the  district  schools.  He  had  performed 
problems  in  arithmetic  that  puzzled  his  teachers, 
and  could  repeat  by  heart  the  greater  part  of  his 
reading  books.  A  copy  of  "  Josephus  "  came  into 
his  hands,  and  he  read  it  over  and  over  until 
long  passages  were  indelibly  impressed  upon  his 
memory. 

"  Eobinson  Crusoe,"  "  Alonzo  and  Melissa,"  he 
devoured  that  winter  with  all  a  boy's  enthusiasm, 
and  the  little  home  in  Orange  seemed  smaller  to 
him  than  ever.  He  longed  to  go  out  into  the 
world  and  find  a  wider  sphere  of  labor.  The 
blood  of  his  old  Welsh  ancestors  was  burning  in 
his  veins.  He  had  often  looked  at  the  old  Garfield 
coat  of  arms,  which  his  father  had  kept  with  loyal 
pride,  and  wondered  what  it  meant.  Now  he 
seemed  to  understand,  as  if  by  a  sudden  intuition, 
the  crimson  bars  on  the  golden  shield,  with  that 
strong  arm,  just  above,  wielding  a  sword,  whose 
motto  read,  "In  cruce  vinco." 

"Tell  me  about  my  great-great-grandfathers," 
he  said  one  day  to  his  mother,  as  they  were  sitting 
together  by  the  open  fire. 

"  Your  father's  family  came  from  Wales,"  she 


24  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

answered,  "  and  the  first  James  Garfield  was  one  of 
the  brave  knights  of  Gaerfili  Castle.  But  that  is 
going  a  long  way  back.  I  know  your  father  used 
to  say  he  was  more  proud  of  having  an  ancestor 
who  had  fought  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
that  was  Solomon  Garfield,  your  own  great-grand 
father." 

"  How  splendid  it  is  to  be  a  soldier  !  "  exclaimed 
James. 

"  Yes,"  said  his  mother,  "  but  there  are  many 
grand  victories  won  in  the  world  besides  those 
upon  the  battle-field." 

And  just  here  it  may  be  said  that  it  was  not  only 
from  his  father's  side  that  James  Garfield  inherited 
so  many  sterling  traits  of  character.  His  mother 
is  a  descendant  of  Maturin  Ballou,  a  French 
Huguenot,  who  joined  the  colony  of  Roger 
Williams,  and  settled  in  Cumberland,  Rhode  Island. 
From  this  pioneer  preacher,  a  great  many  eminent 
men  have  sprung,  among  them  the  celebrated  Ho- 
sea  Ballou,  a  cousin  of  Eliza  Ballou  Garfield. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  25 


CHAPTER   in. 

Life  at  the  "Black-Salter's  " — James  wants  to  to  go  Sea —  His  mother 
will  not  give  her  Consent  —  Hires  out  as  a  Woodchopper  —  His 
Powerful  Physique  —  His  Strength  of  Character. 

ABOUT  ten  miles  from  the  little  settlement  at 
Orange,  and  not  far  from  Cleveland,  was  a  large 
potash  factory,  owned  by  a  certain  Mr.  Barton. 
The  neighboring  farmers,  when  they  cleared  their 
lands,  would  draw  the  refuse  logs  and  branches 
into  a  great  pile  and  burn  them.  The  ashes  thus 
collected,  they  sold  to  this  Mr.  Barton,  who  went 
by  the  name  of  "  black-salter,"  because  the  pot 
ash  he  manufactured  was  called  in  its  crude  state, 
"  black  salts."  At  one  time  he  needed  a  new  shed 
where  the  ashes  were  leached,  and  James  assisted 
the  carpenter  who  put  it  up. 

The  bright,  industrious  lad  pleased  the  old 
black-salter,  and  he  offered  him  fourteen  dollars  a 
month,  if  he  would  come  and  work  in  his  ashery. 

This  was  two  dollars  more  than  Thomas  was 
earning  ff  away  off  in  Michigan,"  and  James  was 
greatly  delighted  at  the  prospect  of  earning  one 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  dollars  a  year ! 

It  was  not,  however,  just  the  sort  of  work  he 


26  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

would  have  chosen ;  and  the  mother  dreaded  for 
her  son  the  rough  companionship  of  the  black- 
salters. 

But  James  did  not  associate  with  the  rude, 
coarse  men  out  of  working-hours.  Their  profanity 
shocked  him ;  and  he  gladly  turned  to  the  books 
he  found  on  an  upper  shelf  at  Barton's  house. 

As  might  have  been  expected,  however,  these 
books  were  very  different  from  any  he  had  read 
before.  "Marryatt's  Novels,"  "Jack  Halyard," 
"Lives  of  Eminent  Criminals,"  and  "  The  Pirate's 
Own  Book,"  were  in  fact  more  dangerous  com 
panions  for  him  than  the  coarse,  brutal  men  would 
have  been.  The  printed  page  carried  with  it  an 
authority  that  the  excited  boy  did  not  stop  to 
question.  He  would  sit  up  all  night  to  follow  in 
imagination  some  reckless  buccaneer  in  his  wild 
exploits,  till  at  last  an  insatiable  longing  to  be  a 
sailor  fired  his  brain. 

"A  life  on  the  ocean  wave"  seemed  to  him,  at 
that  time,  the  "  ultima  thule "  of  all  his  dreams. 
He  longed  to  see  some  more  of  the  world,  and  to 
the  inexperienced  lad  this  seemed  the  quickest  and 
surest  way. 

One  day,  he  happened  to  hear  Mr.  Barton's 
daughter  speak  of  him  in  a  sneering  tone  as  her 
father's  "hired  servant."  This  was  more  than  the 
high  spirit  of  James  could  bear.  Years  after,  he 
said  to  a  friend,  — 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  27 

w  That  girl's  cutting  remark  proved  a  great  bless 
ing  to  me.  I  was  too  much  annoyed  by  it  to  sleep 
that  night ;  I  lay  awake  under  the  rafters  of  that 
old  farm-house,  and  vowed,  again  and  again,  that 
I  would  be  somebody ;  that  the  time  should  come 
when  that  girl  would  not  call  me  a  '  hired  servant.1 " 

The  next  morning  James  informed  his  employer 
that  he  had  concluded  to  give  up  the  black-salter's 
business. 

In  vain  Mr.  Barton  urged  him  to  stay,  by  the 
offer  of  higher  wages. 

Much  as  he  needed  the  money,  the  boy  was 
determined  to  find  some  other  and  more  congenial 
way  of  earning  a  living.  If  he  could  only  go  to 
sea ! 

Fortunately  none  of  the  family  favored  this  wild 
scheme  of  James. 

His  mother  declared  that  she  could  never  give 
her  consent.  "  If  you  ever  go  to  sea,  James,"  she 
said  in  her  firm,  decided  tones,  "remember  it  will 
be  entirely  against  my  will.  Do  not  mention  the 
subject  to  me  again." 

James  was  a  dutiful  son.  He  did  not  want  to 
oppose  his  mother's  will,  and  yet  he  did  want  to 
go  to  sea. 

A  few  days  after  he  heard  that  his  uncle,  who 
was  clearing  a  large  tract  of  forest  near  Cleveland, 
wanted  to  hire  some  wood-choppers.  After  talk 
ing  the  matter  over  with  his  mother,  he  decided  to 


28  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

offer  his  services.  He  could  not  be  idle,  and 
wood-chopping  was  certainly  preferable  to  leach 
ing  ashes. 

His  sister  Mehetabel,  who  was  now  married, 
lived  near  this  uncle,  so  James  could  make  his 
home  with  her. 

Altogether  the  plan  pleased  Mrs.  Garfield,  al 
though  she  was  loath  to  part  with  her  boy,  even 
for  a  few  months. 

James  engaged  to  cut  a  hundred  cords  of  wood 
for  his  uncle,  at  the  rate  of  fifty  cents  a  cord,  and 
declared  he  could  easily  cut  two  cords  a  day. 

Now  it  so  happened  that  the  edge  of  the  forest 
where  James'  work  lay  overlooked  the  blue  waters 
of  Lake  Erie.  With  stories  from  "The  Pirate's 
Own  Book"  still  haunting  his  brain,  it  was  not 
strange  that  he  often  stopped  in  his  work  to  count 
the  sail,  and  watch  the  changing  color  of  the  beau 
tiful  waters. 

By  and  by  he  noticed  that  the  old  German  by 
his  side,  who  seemed  to  wield  his  axe  so  slowly, 
was  getting  ahead  of  him  in  the  amount  of  work 
accomplished.  He  began  to  realize  that  he  was 
wasting  a  deal  of  time  by  these  "  sea  dreams,"  and 
resolutely  turned  his  back  upon  the  fascinating 
waters. 

It  was  not  so  easy,  however,  to  drive  out  of  his 
mind  the  bewitching  sea-faring  tales  he  had  read ; 
and  when  those  hundred  cords  of  wood  were  cut, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  29 

he  returned  home  with  the  old  longing  to  be  a 
sailor  only  intensified. 

He  said  nothing,  for  he  did  not  wish  to  grieve 
his  mother,  and  as  it  was  now  the  last  week  in 
June  he  hired  himself  out  to  a  farmer  for  the  sum 
mer  months,  to  help  in  haying  and  harvesting. 

James  was  now  a  strong,  muscular  boy  in  his 
teens.  He  possessed,  naturally,  a  fine  constitu 
tion,  and  his  simple  life  and  vigorous  exercise  in 
the  open  air  had  greatly  enhanced  his  powers  of 
endurance.  Whatever  he  undertook  he  was  deter 
mined  to  carry  through  successfully.  His  strong, 
indomitable  will  conquered  every  difficulty,  while 
his  stern  integrity  was  a  constant  safeguard. 


30  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  IV. 

James  still  longs  for  the  Sea.  — Experience  with  a  Drunken  Captain 
—  Change  of  Base.  —  Life  on  the  Canal. 

JAMES  went  on  with  his  work  at  home,  attending 
school  in  the  winter,  reading  whatever  books  he 
could  find,  and  taking  odd  jobs  in  carpentry  to 
add  to  the  family  income. 

His  heart,  however,  was  still  on  the  sea. 

At  last  he  said  to  his  mother : 

"If  I  should  be  captain  of  a  ship  some  day, 
you  wouldn't  mind  that,  would  you?" 

Now  Mrs.  Garfield,  like  a  wise  mother,  had 
been  studying  her  restless  boy  and  was  not  unpre 
pared  for  this  returning  desire  on  his  part  "to 
follow  the  sea." 

"  You  might  try  a  trip  on  Lake  Erie,"  she 
replied,  "  and  see  how  you  like  it ;  but  if  you 
want  to  be  *  somebody,'  as  you  say,  I  would  look 
higher  than  to  a  sea-captain's  position." 

James  hardly  heard  his  mother's  last  words,  so 
delighted  was  he  to  have  this  unexpected  permis 
sion. 

He  packed  up  his  things  as  quickly  as  possible 
and  walked  the  whole  distance  to  Cleveland. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  31 

Boarding  the  first  schooner  he  found  lying  at 
the  wharf,  he  asked  one  of  the  crew  if  there  was 
any  chance  for  another  hand  on  board. 

"  If  you  can  wait  a  little,"  was  the  answer,  "  the 
captain  will  soon  be  up  from  the  hold." 

James  had  a  very  exalted  idea  of  this  important 
personage ;  he  expected  to  see  a  fine,  noble-look 
ing  man  such  as  he  had  read  about  in  his  books. 

Suddenly,  he  heard  a  fearful  noise  below,  fol 
lowed  by  terrible  oaths.  Stepping  aside  to  let  the 
drunken  man  pass  him,  he  was  greeted  by  the 
gruff  question, — 

"  What  d'yer  want  here,  yer  green  land-lubber, 
yer?" 

"I  was  waiting  to  see  the  captain,"  replied  James. 

"Wall,  don't  yer  know  him  when  yer  do  see 
him?"  he  shouted.  "  Get  off  my  ship,  I  tell  yer, 
double  quick  !  "  James  needed  no  second  invita 
tion.  Could  this  besotted  brute  be  a  specimen 
of  the  monarchs  of  the  sea?  The  boy  was  so 
shocked  and  disgusted  that  he  made  no  further 
effort  to  find  a  place  on  board  ship.  He  began 
to  think  his  story-books  might  be  a  little  different 
from  the  reality  in  other  things  as  well  as  captains  ! 

Wandering  through  the  city,  he  came  to  the 
canal  which  at  that  time  was  a  great  thorough 
fare  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  river.  One 
of  the  boats,  called  the  "  Evening  Star,"  was  tied 
to  the  bank,  and  James  was  greatly  surprised  to 


32  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

find  that  the  captain  of  it  was  a  cousin  of  his, 
Amos  Letcher. 

"Well,  James,  what  are  you  doing  here?"  said 
the  canal-boat  captain. 

"  Hunting  for  work,"  replied  the  boy. 

"  What  kind  of  work  do  you  want  ?  " 

"Anything  to  make  a  living.  I  came  here  to 
ship  on  the  lake,  but  they  bluffed  me  off  and  called 
me  a  country  greenhorn." 

"You'd  better  try  your  hand  on  smaller  waters 
first,"  said  his  cousin ;  "  I  should  like  to  have  you 
work  for  me,  but  I've  nothing  better  to  offer  you 
than  a  driver's  berth  at  twelve  dollars  a  month." 

"  I  must  do  something,"  answered  James,  "  and  if 
that  is  the  best  you  can  offer  me,  I'll  take  the  team." 

"It  was  imagination  that  took  me  upon  the 
canal,"  he  said,  years  after ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  fascinating  the  trips  from  Cleveland  to  Pitts 
burgh  seemed  at  that  time  to  the  inquiring  boy. 

The  "Evening  Star"  had  a  capacity  of  seventy 
tons,  and  it  was  manned,  as  most  of  the  canal- 
boats  were,  with  two  steersmen,  two  drivers,  a 
bowsman,  and  a  cook.  The  bowsman  stood  in  the 
forward  part  of  the  boat,  made  ready  the  locks, 
and  threw  the  bow-line  around  the  snubbing-post. 
The  drivers  had  two  mules  each,  which  were 
driven  tandem,  and,  after  serving  a  number  of 
hours  on  the  tow-path,  they  took  turns  in  going 
on  board  with  their  mules. 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  33 

James  had  hardly  taken  his  place  behind  "  Kit 
and  Nance,"  as  his  team  was  called,  when  he  heard 
the  captain  call  out, — 

"Careful,  Jim,  there's  a  boat  coming."  The 
boy  had  seen  it,  and  was  trying  to  pass  it  to  the 
best  of  his  ability.  But  his  inexperience  and 
haste  occasioned  a  sudden  tightening  of  the  reins, 
and,  before  any  one  quite  knew  what  had  hap 
pened,  both  driver  and  mules  were  jerked  into  the 
canal.  For  a  few  seconds  it  seemed  as  if  they 
would  go  to  the  bottom,  but  James  was  equal  to  the 
emergency,  and,  getting  astride  the  forward  mule, 
kept  his  head  above  water  until  rescue  came. 
This  was  his  initiation  in  canal-boat  driving,  and 
the  adventure  was  a  standing  joke  among  his  com 
rades  for  a  long  time. 

When  they  came  to  the  "  Eleven-Mile  Lock," 
the  captain  ordered  a  change  of  teams,  and  James 
went  on  board  with  his  mules. 

Letcher,  who  is  still  living  in  Bryan,  Ohio,  gives 
the  following  account  of  his  talk  with  the  boy  as 
they  were  passing  the  locks  : 

"  I  thought  I'd  sound  Jim  on  education — in  the 
rudiments  of  geography,  arithmetic  and  grammar. 
For  I  was  just  green  enough  in  those  days  to  im 
agine  I  knew  it  all.  I  had  been  teaching  school 
for  three  months  in  the  backwoods  of  Steuben 
County,  Indiana.  So  I  asked  him  several  ques 
tions,  and  he  answered  them  all ;  and  then  he  asked 


34  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

me  several  that  I  could  not  answer.  I  told  him  he 
had  too  good  a  head  to  be  a  common  canal-hand." 

One  evening  when  the  "  Evening  Star "  was 
drawing  near  the  twenty-one  locks  of  Akron,  the 
captain  sent  his  bowsman  to  make  the  first  lock 
ready.  Just  as  he  got  there,  a  voice  hailed  him 
through  the  darkness.  It  was  from  a  boat  above 
that  had  reached  the  locks  first. 

"  We  are  just  around  the  bend,"  said  her  bows 
man,  "all  ready  to  enter." 

"  Can't  help  it ! "  shouted  the  bowsman  of  the 
"Evening  Star,"  with  a  volley  of  oaths;  "we've 
got  to  hev  this  lock  first !  " 

The  captain  was  so  used  to  these  contests  on 
the  canal  that  he  did  not  often  interfere,  but  it 
was  a  new  experience  to  James.  He  tapped  his 
cousin  Amos  on  the  shoulder,  and  said,  — 

"  Does  that  lock  belong  to  us?  " 

"  Well,  I  suppose  not,  according  to  law,"  was 
the  answer,  "  but  we  will  have  it,  anyhow." 

"  No  !  we  will  not !  "  he  exclaimed. 

"  But  why  ?  "  said  the  captain. 

"  Why?"  he  repeated,  "because  it  don't  belong 
to  us." 

Struck  with  the  boy's  sense  of  right,  and 
ashamed  of  his  own  carelessness,  the  captain  called 
out  to  his  men, — 

"  Hold  on,  hold  on  !    Let  them  have  the  lock." 

When  the  boatmen  knew  that  their  fight  had 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  35 

been  prevented  by  James's  interference  they  were 
greatly  incensed,  and  began  to  call  him  "  coward" 
and  all  sorts  of  derogatory  names. 

The  boy  only  smiled ;  he  knew  he  could  vindi 
cate  his  rights  when  the  time  came,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  he  had  an  opportunity. 

The  boat  had  just  reached  Beaver,  and  James 
was  on  deck  with  his  setting-pole  against  his 
shoulder ;  a  sudden  lurch  wrenched  it  from  him 
and  threw  it  upon  one  of  the  boat-hands,  who  was 
standing  close  by. 

"  Beg  pardon,  Dave,"  said  the  boy  quickly  ;  "  it 
was  an  accident." 

The  great,  rough  man,  however,  would  take  no 
apology,  and  rushed  upon  James  with  clenched 
fists.  A  fight  seemed  inevitable,  but  with  one 
well-directed  blow,  the  boy  of  sixteen  threw  down 
his  burly  antagonist,  and  held  him  fast. 

"  Pound  him,  James  !  Give  him  a  good  thrash 
ing  !  "  exclaimed  the  captain. 

"Not  when  he  is  down  and  in  my  power," 
said  the  boy.  Then,  letting  his  conquered  foe 
rise,  he  said, — 

"  Come,  Dave,  give  us  your  hand !  "  and  from 
that  time  forth  they  were  the  best  of  friends. 

"  He's  dif  rent  from  the  rest  on  us  —  that's  sar- 
tin  —  but  he's  a  good  un,  got  a  mighty  sight  o' 
pluck,"  said  the  whole  crew. 


36  LITE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

Narrow  Escape  from  Drowning.  — Return  Home.  —  Severe  Illness.  — 
James  determines  to  fit  Himself  for  a  Teacher.  —  Geauga  Semi 
nary. —  Personal  Appeai-ance. —  Dr.  Robinson's  Verdict. 

ONE  dark,  stormy  night,  just  as  the  "  Evening 
Star"  was  leaving  a  long  reach  of  slack  water, 
James  was  called  out  of  his  berth  to  tend  the  bow 
line.  As  he  began  to  uncoil  the  rope,  it  caught  on 
the  edge  of  the  deck ;  he  pulled  several  times  be 
fore  he  could  extricate  it,  but  suddenly  it  gave  way 
with  such  force  as  to  throw  him  headlong  into  the 
water. 

The  whole  crew  were  soundly  sleeping,  the  boat 
glided  over  him,  and  as  he  could  not  swim  he  felt 
there  was  no  hope.  Suddenly  he  caught  hold  of 
something  hard ;  it  was  the  rope  which  had  become 
entangled  in  a  crevice  of  the  deck  and  become  so 
tight  that  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  climb  up  by  it 
into  the  boat. 

As  he  stood  there  in  his  dripping  clothes,  res 
cued  from  a  watery  grave,  he  took  the  rope  and 
tried  to  see  how  it  happened  to  catch  in  the  crev 
ice.  Six  hundred  times  he  threw  it,  but  it  would 
not  kink  in  the  same  manner  again. 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  37 

"  No  one  but  God  could  have  saved  my  life  by 
such  a  thread  as  that ! "  he  exclaimed,  and  then 
he  began  to  wonder  if  he  could  not  make  a  better 
use  of  his  miraculously-spared  life  than  by  spend 
ing  it  upon  a  canal-boat. 

A  severe  attack  of  chills  and  fever  followed 
this  night's  drenching  and  exposure.  He  thought 
of  his  mother  and  her  hopes  for  him,  and  made 
up  his  mind  to  return  home  as  soon  as  he  was 
able. 

His  mother  was  overjoyed  when,  a  few  weeks 
later,  he  stood  before  her  and  told  her  of  his 
changed  plans.  But  again  the  malaria  asserted 
its  sway  over  him,  and  for  a  long  time  he  lay  be- 
tAveen  life  and  death.  It  was  six  months  before 
he  was  able  to  do  anything,  and  then  to  his 
mother's  delight  he  told  her  he  was  going  to  fit 
himself  to  be  a  teacher. 

A  young  man  named  Samuel  Bates  (now  a 
clergyman  in  Madison,  Ohio,)  had  charge  that 
winter  of  the  district-school  in  Orange.  He  was 
a  frequent  visitor  at  Mrs.  Garfield's,  and  between 
James  and  himself  there  sprang  up  a  warm  friend 
ship.  The  young  teacher  had  attended  the  Ge- 
auga  Seminary  in  Chester,  and  was  full  of  his 
school  experiences.  He  told  James  how  econom 
ically  one  could  live,  by  clubbing  together  with 
other  students,  and  the  result  was  that  in  the  fol 
lowing  spring,  Garfield  and  his  two  cousins,  Wil- 


38  LITE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES. 

liam  and  Henry  Boynton,  went  to  Chester  and 
rented  a  room  just  across  the  street  from  the 
seminary.  The  house  belonged  to  a  poor  widow, 
who  agreed  to  look  after  their  room  and  do  their 
washing  for  a  small  sum.  They  bought  their  own 
cooking-stove,  and  immediately  set  up  house 
keeping.  James  had  only  eleven  dollars  in  his 
pocket,  but  he  hoped  to  earn  more  before  that 
was  gone. 

The  academy  was  a  plain  wooden  building  of 
three  stories,  and  could  accommodate  about  a 
hundred  pupils.  The  library  connected  with  it 
contained  a  hundred  and  fifty  volumes,  which 
seemed  to  James  a  perfect  mine  of  wealth. 
Among  the  pupils  at  that  time  attending  the 
academy  was  a  studious  young  girl  by  the  name 
of  Lucretia  Rudolph,  but  the  boys  and  girls  sel 
dom  saw  each  other  except  in  their  classes,  and 
James  was  so  shy  and  awkward  he  did  not  care 
much  for  the  society  of  young  ladies.  He  watched 
Miss  Rudolph,  however,  with  quiet  admiration. 
Her  sweet  face,  her  pleasant  manners,  and  fine 
scholarship,  made  her  a  universal  favorite,  and 
little  by  little  a  hearty  friendship  sprang  up  be 
tween  the  two  students  who  had  so  many  aims  in 
common. 

The  principal  of  the  academy  at  that  time  was 
an  eccentric  old  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Daniel 
Branch.  His  wife,  who  was  his  chief  assistant 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  39 

and  eqmally  eccentric,  was  trying  to  introduce 
into  the  school  a  grammar  of  her  own  construc 
tion,  which  was  totally  at  variance  with  all  other 
systems.  For  instance,  she  insisted  that  but 
should  be  parsed  as  a  verb,  in  the  imperative 
mood,  with  the  sense  of  to  be  out;  she  also  de 
clared  that  and  was  another  verb  in  the  impera 
tive  mood,  and  meant  add! 

Young  Garfield,who  had  been  thoroughly  drilled 
in  Kirkman's  Grammar  at  the  district  school,  con 
stantly  contended  against  these  new  ideas  which, 
to  his  clear,  well-balanced  brain,  presented  noth 
ing  but  absurdity.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
other  scholars  followed  his  sage  example,  and  that 
Branch's  idiosyncrasy  was  soon  banished  from  the 
school  curriculum. 

James'  personal  appearance  at  this  time  is  thus 
described  by  one  of  his  friends  : 

"His  clear,  blue  eyes,  and  free,  open  counten 
ance  were  remarkably  prepossessing.  His  height 
was  exaggerated  by  the  coarse,  satinet  trousers  he 
wore,  which  were  far  outgrown,  and  reached  only 
half-way  down  the  tops  of  his  cowhide  boots.  It 
was  his  one  suit,  and  the  threadbare  coat  was  so 
short  in  the  sleeves  that  his  long  arms  had  a  singu 
larly  awkward  look.  His  coarse,  slouched  hat, 
much  the  worse  for  wear,  covered  a  shock  of  un 
kempt  yellow  hair  that  fell  down  over  his  shoulders 
like  a  Shaker's." 


40  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Without  consulting  any  one,  James  resolved  to 
be  examined  by  a  physician  before  going  on  with 
his  studies. 

He  went  to  Dr.  J.  P.  Robinson,  of  Bedford, 
who  happened  to  be  in  the  neighborhood,  and  said 
to  him,  — 

tf  You  are  a  physician,  and  know  the  fibre  that  is 
in  men.  I  want  you  to  examine  me,  and  then  say 
frankly  whether  or  no  it  is  worth  while  for  me  to 
take  a  course  of  liberal  study.  It  is  my  earnest 
desire  to  do  so,  but  if  you  advise  me  not  to  attempt 
it,  I  shall  feel  content." 

The  doctor,  in  speaking  of  this  incident,  says  :  — 

"  I  felt  that  I  was  on  my  sacred  honor,  and  the 
young  man  looked  as  though  he  felt  himself  on 
trial.  I  had  had  considerable  experience  as  a 
physician,  but  here  was  a  case  much  different  from 
any  other  I  had  ever  had.  I  examined  his  head, 
and  saw  that  there  was  a  magnificent  brain  there. 
I  sounded  his  lungs,  and  found  them  strong  and 
capable  of  making  good  blood.  I  felt  his  pulse, 
and  saw  that  there  was  an  engine  capable  of  send 
ing  the  blood  up  to  the  brain.  I  had  seen  many 
strong,  physical  systems  with  warm  feet,  but  cold, 
sluggish  brain  ;  and  those  who  possessed  such  sys 
tems  would  simply  sit  around  and  doze.  At  the 
end  of  a  fifteen  minutes'  careful  examination  of  this 
kind,  we  rose,  and  I  said:  'Go  on;  follow  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  41 

promptings  of  your  ambition.  You  have  the  brain 
of  a  Webster,  and  you  have  the  physical  propor 
tions  that  will  back  you  in  the  most  herculean 
efforts.  Work,  work  hard,  do  not  be  afraid  of 
overworking ;  and  you  will  make  your  mark.'  " 


42  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OP 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Loir  State  of  Finances. — James  Takes  up  Carpentry  again. — The 
Debating  Club. —  Bread  and  Milk  Diet. —First  Experience  in 
School-Teaching.  —  Becomes  Interested  in  Religious  Topics. — 
Creed  of  the  Disciples.  —  James  Joins  the  New  Sect. 

AFTER  buying  his  school-books  and  some  other 
necessary  articles,  James  found  his  small  amount 
of  funds  rapidly  decreasing.  But  this  did  not  dis 
courage  him  in  the  least. 

"  I  have  never  yet  had  any  difficulty  in  finding 
work,  and  I  don't  believe  I  shall  now,"  he  said  to 
his  cousins,  as  he  started  off  one  Saturday  after 
noon  to  find  a  carpenter's  shop. 

In  those  days  planing  was  always  done  by  hand, 
and  Mr.  Woodworth,  the  one  carpenter  at  Chester, 
was  very  glad  to  engage  so  willing  and  capable  an 
assistant  as  the  young  student. 

By  working  at  his  shop  before  and  after  school, 
and  all  day  upon  Saturday,  James  earned  enough 
money  to  pay  all  his  bills  that  term,  and  carry 
home  a  few  dollars  besides.  From  that  time  for 
ward  he  never  failed  to  pay  his  own  way,  although 
to  do  it  he  was  obliged  to  work  very  hard  and  deny 
himself  many  comforts. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  43 

The  studies  of  his  first  term  at  Chester  included 
English  grammar,  natural  philosophy,  arithmetic 
and  algebra.  It  was  one  of  the  regulations  of  the 
school  to  write  a  composition  every  fortnight  upon 
subjects  chosen  sometimes  by  the  principal,  and 
sometimes  by  the  students  themselves.  These 
essays  were  occasionally  read  before  the  whole 
school,  and  the  first  time  that  James  read  his, 
he  trembled  so  that  he  was  "  very  glad,"  he  writes, 
"  of  the  short  curtain  across  the  platform  that  hid 
my  shaking  legs  from  the  audience." 

In  the  Debating  Society  James  always  took  an 
active  part.  He  was  a  little  diffident  at  first,  but 
soon  astonished  himself  as  much  as  his  friends  by 
his  ready  command  of  language.  Whatever  ques 
tion  came  up  before  the  club  he  studied  as  he 
would  a  problem  in  mathematics.  The  school 
library  supplied  him  with  books  of  reference,  and 
his  ready  memory  never  failed  him.  The  students 
at  Geauga  listened  with  astonishment  to  the  elo 
quent  appeals  of  their  rough,  ungainly  schoolmate. 
The  secret  of  his  power  was  largely  due  to  the 
thorough  preparation  with  which  he  armed  himself. 
He  was  so  full  of  his  subject  he  could  not  help 
imparting  it  in  the  strongest  and  most  impressive 
manner.  Here  it  was  that  he  laid  the  basis  of  his 
future  success  as  a  public  speaker. 

Having  taken  from  the  library  the  "Life  of 
Henry  C.  Wright,"  he  became  quite  interested  in 


44  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  author's  experiment  of  living  upon  a  bread  and 
milk  diet.  He  told  his  cousins  they  had  been  too 
extravagant  in  their  mode  of  living,  that  milk  was 
better  than  meat  for  students,  and  that  another 
term  they  must  try  it. 

The  boys,  always  ready  to  follow  James,  acqui 
esced  ;  and  after  a  trial  of  four  weeks,  found  their 
expenses  had  been  reduced  to  thirty-one  cents 
each,  per  week.  But  their  strength  also  had 
become  reduced ;  and  while  still  making  milk  their 
principal  article  of  diet,  they  concluded  to  increase 
tneir  table  to  the  amount  of  fifty  cents  each  for  the 
remainder  of  the  term. 

When  the  long  vacation  came  James  was  very 
anxious  to  teach  school.  The  principal  at  Geauga 
had  told  him  that  he  was  fully  competent,  and  with 
his  usual  energy  and  determination  he  started  out 
to  find  a  school. 

rf  What !  you  don't  expect  we  want  a  boy  to 
teach  in  our  district  ? "  was  the  first  reply  to  his 
modest  application. 

It  was  of  no  use  to  show  the  committee  his 
excellent  recommendation  from  Mr.  Branch  —  they 
wanted  a  man,  not  a  boy. 

Somewhat  discouraged,  James  walked  on  to  the 
next  district,  only  to  find  that  a  teacher  had  already 
been  engaged.  About  three  miles  north  was 
another  school,  but  here,  too,  they  were  just  sup 
plied  with  a  graduate  from  Geauga. 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  45 

Two  days  of  persistent  school-hunting  followed, 
but  James  was  unable  to  find  any  position  as 
teacher. 

"  It  may  be  that  Providence  has  something  bet 
ter  in  store  for  you,"  said  his  mother ;  but  James 
was  so  tired  and  discouraged  he  had  not  a  word  to 
say. 

Early  next  morning  he  was  surprised  by  a  call 
from  one  of  the  committee  men  belonging  to  their 
own  district. 

"We  want  some  one  to  teach  at  the  'Ledge,'" 
he  said  to  James,  "  and  we  heard  that  you  were 
looking  for  a  school.  Now,  the  boys  all  know  you 
in  this  district,  and  they  are  a  pretty  hard  lot  to 
manage,  but  I  reckon  you  are  stout  enough  to 
thrash  them  all." 

Not  a  very  encouraging  outlook  for  James, 
surely  !  But  after  talking  the  matter  over  with 
his  Uncle  Amos  Boynton,  he  concluded  to  under 
take  the  school. 

Beginning  as  "  Jim  Garfield,"  he  determined  to 
win  the  respect  of  both  pupils  and  parents  until  he 
was  known  as  "Mr.  Garfield."  To  do  this  a  deal 
of  firmness  was  required,  and  his  first  day  at 
school  was  a  series  of  battles  with  naughty  boys. 
After  that  a  most  friendly  relation  was  established 
between  pupils  and  teacher.  They  felt  he  had  no 
desire  to  domineer  over  them,  but  that  he  would 
maintain  order  and  decorum  at  any  cost.  In 


46  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"boarding  around,"  as  was  the  custom  for  district 
school  teachers  in  those  days,  he  became  well 
acquainted  with  all  the  families  in  the  neighbor 
hood  and  gained  a  still  firmer  hold  upon  the  af 
fections  of  his  pupils.  Before  the  winter  was 
over,  Mr.  Garfield  had  won  the  reputation  of  be 
ing  "the  best  teacher  who  had  ever  taught  at  the 
'Ledge.'" 

It  was  a  great  delight  to  his  mother  to  have  him 
so  near  her.  Every  Sunday  he  spent  at  home,  and 
it  was  at  this  time  that  he  became  deeply  interested 
in  religious  questions.  His*mother  was  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  Disciples,  or  Campbellites,  as 
they  were  sometimes  called,  from  Alexander 
Campbell,  the  founder  of  the  sect. 

Their  creed  is  as  follows  : 

I.  We  believe  in  God,  the  Father. 

II.  We  believe  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of 
the  living  God,  the  only  Saviour. 

III.  That  Christ  is  a  Divine  Being. 

IV.  That  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Divine  agent  in  the 
conversion  of  sinners,  and  the  sanctification  of  Chris 
tians. 

V.  That  the  Old  and   New  Testament   Scriptures 
are  the  inspired  word  of  God. 

VI.  That  there  is  future  punishment  for  the  wicked, 
and  future  reward  for  the  righteous. 

VII.  That  the  Deity  is  a  prayer-hearing  and  prayer- 
answering  God. 

VIII.  That  the  Bible  is  our  only  creed. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  47 

The  founder  of  the  sect  was  for  a  long  time  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  declared  that 
he  differed  from  them  only  in  his  "  disbelief  in  the 
binding  force  of  the  church  creed,  and  in  the 
necessity  of  ministerial  ordinations." 

The  new  church  grew  very  rapidly,  notwith 
standing  the  persecutions  it  received  from  both 
the  Baptist  and  Freewill  Baptist  denominations, 
and  it  numbers  now  over  half  a  million  members. 

It  is  not  strange  that  James  was  drawn  to  this 
single-hearted,  struggling  sect  of  "Disciples." 
The  earnest,  persuasive  arguments  of  one  of  its 
preachers  led  him  to  Christ,  and  when,  that  same 
winter,  he  was  baptized  in  the  little  river  at  Or 
ange,  he  became  at  once  an  earnest  champion  of 
the  new  church.  In  all  -religious  discussions,  he 
claimed  the  right  of  following  the  Bible  according 
to  the  convictions  of  his  own  conscience,  and  de 
clared  that  every  one  else  should  have  the  same 
right. 

His  consistent  Christian  life  added  strength  to 
his  spoken  words,  and  the  Disciples  felt  that  a 
bright  and  shining  light  had  been  added  to  their 
ranks. 


48  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Return  to  Geauga  Seminary.  —  Works  at  Haying  through  the  Vaca 
tion. —  Teaches  a  higher  Grade  of  School.  —  First  Oration. — 
Determines  to  Go  to  College.  —  He  visits  the  State  Capitol  at 
Columbus. 

WHEN  James  returned  to  the  academy,  he  made 
an  arrangement  with  Mr.  Wood  worth,  by  which 
he  could  have  a  comfortable  boarding-place  at  one 
dollar  and  six  cents  a  week.  This  was  at  Mr. 
Woodworth's  own  house,  and  the  payment  was  to 
be  taken  out  in  labor  at  the  carpenter's  shop.  It 
was  an  excellent  plan,  and  gave  James  more  time 
for  his  studies,  in  spite  of  the  hard  manual  labor 
he  performed  out  of  school-hours.  He  could  use 
the  square  and  the  scratch-awl  now,  as  well  as 
the  plane ;  and  his  wages  were  correspondingly 
increased. 

In  the  summer  vacation  of  his  third  term  at 
Geauga,  James  and  a  schoolmate  resolved  to  earn 
a  little  money  at  haying.  They  accordingly  hired 
themselves  out  to  a  neighboring  farmer  who 
wanted  some  extra  hands.  Noticing  how  vigor 
ously  the  boys  worked,  the  farmer  turned  to  his 
men  and  said,  — 

"Lookee   here,   you    lubbers!    these  boys  are 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  49 

gitting  way  ahead  of  you.  They  make  broader 
swaths,  and  they  mow  a  sight  better  than  you 
do!" 

When  the  haying  was. done,  and  the  settling 
day  came,  the  farmer  asked  the  boys  what  wages 
they  expected. 

"  Whatever  you  think  is  right,"  replied  James. 

"Wall,"  said  the  farmer,  "as  yer  only  boys, 
of  course  yer  won't  expect  men's  wages." 

"  But  didn't  you  say  yourself,"  argued  James, 
"  that  we  did  more  work  than  your  men  ?  If  that 
is  so,  why  should  you  pay  us  less?" 

The  farmer  was  nonplussed,  and  gave  the  boys 
the  same  wages  he  paid  his  men,  remarking,  as  he 
did  so,  — 

"It's  the  fust  time  I  ever  paid  boys  so  much, 
but  you've  fairly  earned  it — that's  a  fact !  " 

It  was  just  about  this  time  that  the  anti-slavery 
contest  began  to  assert  itself  throughout  the  coun 
try. 

In  the  little  Debating  Club  at  Geauga,  the  ques 
tion  was  given  out,  "  Ought  slavery  to  be  abolished 
in  this  republic  ? "  It  was  a  subject  that  roused 
James  to  his  best  efforts ;  and  his  school-mates, 
as  they  listened  to  his  fiery  denunciations  against 
slavery,  declared  that  "  Jim  ought  to  go  to  Con 
gress  ! " 

The  following  winter  James  procured  a  school 
at  Warrens ville,  where  he  was  paid  sixteen  dollars 


50  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

a  month  and  his  board,  which  was  more  than  he 
had  ever  earned  before.  It  was  in  this  school  that 
one  of  the  pupils  wanted  to  take  up  geometry — 
a  branch  of  mathematics  that  James  had  never 
studied. 

As  usual,  however,  he  was  equal  to  the  emer 
gency.  Buying  a  text-book,  he  studied  geometry 
after  school-hours,  until  he  had  mastered  the 
science,  and  his  pupils  never  once  dreamed  but  that 
he  was  as  familiar  with  it  as  with  algebra  or  arith 
metic. 

It  was  at  the  annual  exhibition  of  Geauga  Semi 
nary,  in  November,  1859,  that  James  delivered 
his  first  oration.  It  was  prepared  with  his  usual 
carefulness,  and  delivered  with  so  much  magnetic 
earnestness  that  the  whole  audience  were  held 
spell-bound. 

"  He  is  bound  to  make  his  mark  in  the  world," 
said  every  one  who  had  listened  to  the  earnest, 
enthusiastic  student. 

Mrs.  Garfield  noted  with  grateful  joy  that  her 
son  no  longer  spoke  of  "  going  to  sea."  The  one 
great  aim  of  his  life  now  was  to  procure  a  liberal 
education.  A  deeper,  broader  ocean  was  stretch 
ing  out  before  him,  and  already  his  pulses  thrilled 
with  the  mighty,  incoming  tide. 

It  was-  during  his  last  term  at  Geauga  Seminary 
that  James  met  a  young  man  who  was  a  graduate 
of  a  New  England  college.  From  him  he  learned 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


51 


that  it  was  possible  to  work  one's  way  through 
college  as  well  as  through  school.  It  was  a  new 
thought  to  James.  His  poverty  had  seemed  to 
him  before  an  insurmountable  obstacle  in  gaining 
a  university  education.  Now,  he  began  to  study 
Latin  and  other  branches  that  might  pave  the  way 
to  a  college  examination. 

On  his  return  home,  he  found  his  mother  was 
just  about  to  start  on  a  journey  to  Muskingum 
County,  where  some  of  her  relatives  lived.  She 
was  very  anxious  that  James  should  go  with  her, 
and,  when  he  found  that  he  cRild  obtain  a  school 
near  Zanesville,  he  was  quite  ready  to  go.  The 
Cleveland  and  Columbus  Railroad  had  just  been 
opened,  and  this  was  James'  first  ride  in  the  cars. 
When  they  reached  Columbus  they  visited  the 
legislature,  which  was  then  in  session ;  and,  as 
James  remarked  afterwards,  "  That  alone  was 
worth  a  month's  schooling  to  me." 

The  mother  and  son  spent  three  months  in  this 
part  of  Ohio,  James  teaching  the  little  school  at 
Harrison,  and  studying  hard  himself  all  the  time. 
Having  met  a  student  from  the  Eclectic  Institute 
at  Hiram,  Portage  County,  Ohio,  he  learned  that 
opportunities  were  there  afforded  for  studying  the 
branches  of  the  first  two  college  years.  The  ex 
penses  of  tuition  were  no  greater  than  at  Geauga 
Seminary,  and  the  Institute  was  under  the  direc 
tion  of  the  Church  of  the  Disciples. 


52  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

It  seemed  a  providential  opening,  and,  after 
talking  over  the  matter  with  his  mother,  he  de 
termined  to  seek  admission  there  the  following 
autumn. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  53 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

Hiram  Institute.  —  The  faithful  Janitor.  —  Miss  Almecla  Booth.  — 
James  is  appointed  Assistant  Teacher.  —  Critical  habit  of  Reading1. 
—  Moral  and  Religious  Growth. — Debating  Club. 

IT  was  towards  the  latter  part  of  August,  1851, 
and  James  was  nearly  twenty  years  of  age  when 
he  first  presented  himself  at  Hiram  Institute.  The 
board  of  trustees  was  then  in  session,  and  he  was 
directly  introduced  into  the  room  where  they  were 
seated.  Notwithstanding  his  shabby  clothes  and 
awkward  manners,  his  earnest,  intelligent  face  at 
once  prepossessed  them  in  his  favor. 

"I  must  work  my  way,"  he  began  ;  "but  I  am 
very  anxious  to  get  an  education.  I  thought, 
perhaps,  you  would  let  me  ring  the  bell  and  sweep 
the  floors  to  pay  part  of  my  bills." 

"How  do  we  know  that  you  can  do  the  work 
well?"  asked  one  of  the  trustees. 

"  If,  at  the  end  of  a  couple  of  weeks,"  replied 
James,  "you  find  that  my  work  does  not  suit  you, 
I  will  not  ask  to  keep  the  place." 

"  I  think  we  had  better  try  the  young  student," 
said  another  of  the  trustees,  and  so  the  question 
was  settled,  and  James  was  duly  installed  as  janitor. 


54  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  town  of  Hiram  was  at  that  time  twelve 
miles  from  the  railroad,  and  consisted  of  a  strag 
gling  collection  of  houses,  with  two  churches  and 
a  few  stores  at  the  cross-roads.  Its  natural  advan 
tages,  however,  were  wonderfully  fine,  and  to-day 
it  is  sometimes  called  "  the  crown  of  Ohio."  Its 
location  is  very  near  the  line  where  the  waters 
divide,  one  part  flowing  northward  to  Lake  Erie, 
the  other  southward  to  the  Ohio  river. 

The  Institute  was  a  plain,  brick  building  on  the 
top  of  a  hill,  whose  slopes  were  thickly  planted 
with  corn ;  from  this  eminence  a  charming  pano 
rama  of  the  whole  surrounding  country  could  be 
obtained.  It  was  built  for  the  special  accommoda 
tion  of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Western 
Eeserve  farmers,  and  among  its  founders  was  Mr. 
Zebulon  Rudolph,  the  father  of  James'  old  school 
mate,  Lucre  tia  Rudolph.  The  Rev.  A.  S.  Hay  den 
was,  at  this  time,  its  principal,  and  Thomas  Mun- 
nell  and  Norman  Dunshee  were  assistant  teachers. 

The  aims  of  the  school  were,  — 

1st.  To  provide  a  sound,  scientific  and  literary 
education. 

2d.  To  temper  and  sweeten  such  education  with 
moral  and  scriptural  knowledge. 

3d.  To  educate  young  men  for  the  ministry. 

The  charter  of  the  Institute,  according  to  the 
peculiar  tenet  of  the  religious  movement  in  which 
it  originated,  was  based  upon  the  study  of  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  55 

Holy  Scriptures.  The  Disciples  believed  that  the 
Bible  ought  to  take  a  larger  place  in  general  cul 
ture  than  had  as  yet  been  accorded  to  it.  In  the 
course  of  study,  the  system  pursued  was  strictly 
elective.  It  was  just  the  place  for  James  to  fit  for 
college,  and  pursue,  if  he  chose,  branches  that 
would  enable  him  to  enter  a  university  two  years 
in  advance. 

Among  the  pupils  at  Hiram,  when  James  en 
tered  the  Institute,  was  a  Miss  Almeda  Booth, 
some  nine  years  his  senior,  who  proved  an  invalu 
able  friend  and  helper.  She  was  a  teacher  as  well 
as  scholar,  but  James,  at  the  end  of  a  few  months, 
found  himself  pursuing  the  same  studies  and  rank 
ing  in  the  same  classes  as  Miss  Booth.  "  I  was  far 
behind  her,"  he  writes,  "in  mathematics  and  the 
physical  sciences,  but  we  were  nearly  in  the  same 
place  in  Greek  and  Latin." 

Miss  Booth  was  a  lady  of  rare  talent.  Upon 
the  death  of  the  young  man  to  whom  she  was  en 
gaged,  she  resolved  to  consecrate  her  life  to  higher 
intellectual  attainments,  in  order  to  increase  her 
usefulness. 

In  a  tribute  to  her  memory,  a  few  years  ago, 
Garfield  said, — 

"  She  exerted  a  more  powerful  influence  over 
me  than  any  other  teacher,  except  President  Hop 
kins The  few  spare  hours  which  school- 
work  left  us  were  devoted  to  such  pursuits  as 


56  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

each  of  us  preferred,  but  much  study  was  done  in 
common.  I  can  name  twenty  or  thirty  books, 
which  will  be  doubly  precious  to  me  because  they 
were  read  and  discussed  in  company  with  her.  I 
can  still  read  between  the  lines  the  memories  of 
her  first  impressions  of  the  page,  and  her  judgment 
of  its  merits." 

Whenever  James  had  a  thesis  to  prepare,  he 
would  talk  over  the  subject  for  hours  with  Miss 
Booth,  and  together  they  read  during  one  term  a 
hundred  pages  of  Herodotus  and  a  hundred  of 
Livy. 

At  the  close  of  his  first  year  at  Hiram,  James 
was  given  the  position  of  assistant  teacher  of  the 
English  department  and  ancient  languages.  He 
had  also  secured  regular  work  with  the  carpenter 
in  Hiram,  so  it  was  no  longer  necessary  for  him  to 
serve  as  janitor.  But  many  of  his  old  schoolmates 
still  remember  the  faithfulness  with  which  he  per 
formed  the  menial  services  of  his  first  position. 
He  was  promptness  itself  at  the  ringing  of  every 
bell,  and  seemed  the  personification  of  Herbert's 
servant,  in  making  "drudgery  divine" — for  truly, 

"  Who  sweeps  a  room  as  to  Thy  laws, 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine !  " 

It  was  while  at  Hiram  Institute  that  he  formed 
the  habit  of  taking  critical  notes  from  all  the  books 
he  read.  It  proved  of  invaluable  service  to  him  in 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  57 

after  years,  for  no  matter  upon  what  topic  he  de 
sired  to  speak,  these  indexes  served  as  so  many 
finger-posts  in  his  library,  and  directed  him  at  once 
to  the  subject-matter  in  hand. 

All  this  time  the  moral  and  religious  faculties  of 

c 

the  young  student  were  developing  no  less  rapidly 
than  his  intellectual  powers.  At  the  frequent 
meetings  of  the  Disciples  he  was  a  ready  speaker, 
and  his  earnest  appeals  are  remembered  to  this  day 
by  his  school-mates.  Every  one  seemed  to  think, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  he  would  become  a 
preacher  in  the  Church  of  the  Disciples,  but,  as 
the  months  went  by,  he  seemed  disinclined  to  ex 
press  any  decision  upon  that  point. 

The  Debating  Club  at  Hiram  called  out  his  best 
powers.  His  practice  at  Geauga  had  fitted  him  to 
express  his  opinions  upon  whatever  subject  might 
be  under  discussion,  in  the  clearest  and  most  im 
pressive  manner.  At  one  time  the  contest  over 
some  public  question  became  so  bitter  and  excited 
that  James  finally  rose  and  declared  he  would  no 
longer  waste  his  time  over  such  nonsensical  things 
as  the  majority  proposed.  A  division  of  the 
club  was  the  final  result,  and  James  was  chosen 
president  of  the  new  society. 


58  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

Ready  for  College.  —His  Uncle  lends  him  Five  Hundred  Dollars.— 
Why  he  Decides  to  go  to  Williams.  —  College  Life. 

AFTER  spending  three  years  at  Hiram  in  faithful, 
persistent  study,  James  felt  he  was  prepared  to 
enter  the  junior  class  at  almost  any  college.  But 
how  was  he  to  procure  the  means  to  carry  on  hit 
studies  ?  Thus  far  he  had  defrayed  all  his  expenses 
by  his  own  exertions  as  janitor,  carpenter,  and 
teacher ;  but,  to  enter  college,  he  would  need  s 
little  money  in  advance.  His  proud,  independent 
spirit  shrank  from  borrowing  even  from  his  friends, 
At  last,  he  went  to  his  uncle,  Thomas  Garfield, 
and  asked  for  the  use  of  five  hundred  dollars  unti 
he  could  earn  enough  money  by  teaching  to  pay  ii 
back. 

His  uncle  Thomas  had  always  shown  a  kindl} 
interest  in  his  efforts  to  obtain  an  education,  am 
now  gladly  advanced  him  the  sum  he  desired.  Ii 
order  to  make  sure  the  payment  in  case  of  his 
death,  James  procured  a  policy  upon  his  life  tx 
the  value  of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  presented  i 
to  his  uncle'. 

He  had  now,  as  he  thought,  the  necessary  mean; 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  59 

to  enter  college,  but  which  of  the  many  inviting 
doors  should  he  enter  ?  Every  one  seemed  to  take 
it  for  granted  that  he  would  go  to  Bethany  Col 
lege,  which  was  under  the  patronage  of  his  own 
denomination,  but,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  he  gave 
his  final  decision  as  follows  :  — 

"  After  thinking  it  all  over,  I  have  made  up  my 

mind  to  go  to  Williamstown,  Mass There 

are  three  reasons  why  I  have  decided  not  to  go  to 
Bethany: — 1st.  The  course  of  study  is  not  so 
extensive  or  thorough  as  in  eastern  colleges.  2d. 
Bethany  leans  too  heavily  toward  slavery.  3d.  I 
am  the  son  of  Disciple  parents,  am  one  myself, 
and  have  had  but  little  acquaintance  with  people 
of  other  views ;  and  having  always  lived  in  the 
West,  I  think  it  will  make  me  more  liberal 
both  in  my  religious  and  general  views  and  senti 
ments,  to  go  into  a  new  circle,  where  I  shall 
be  under  new  influence.  Therefore,  I  wrote  to 
the  presidents  of  Brown  University,  Yale  and 
Williams,  setting  forth  the  amount  of  study  I  had 
done,  and  asking  how  long  it  would  take  me  to 
finish  their  course. 

"Their  answers  are  now  before  me.  All  tell 
me  I  can  graduate  in  two  years.  They  are  all 
brief,  business  notes,  but  President  Hopkins  con 
cludes  with  this  sentence  :  'If  you  come  here  we 
shall  be  glad  to  do  what  we  can  for  you.'  Other 
things  being  so  nearly  equal,  this  sentence,  which 


60  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

seems  to  be  a  kind  of  friendly  grasp  of  the  hand, 
has  settled  that  question  for  me.  I  shall  vtart  for 
Williams  next  week." 

It  was  at  the  close  of  the  summer  term  in  1854 
that  James  presented  himself  before  President 
Hopkins  for  examination.  He  is  described  at  this 
time  "as  a  tall,  awkward  youth,  with  a  great 
shock  of  light  hair,  rising  nearly  erect  from  a 
broad,  high  forehead,  and  an  open,  kindly,  and 
thoughtful  face,  which  showed  no  traces  of  hi,> 
long  struggle  with  poverty  and  privation." 

He  passed  the  examination  without  difficulty, 
and  soon  became  a  great  favorite  with  his  class  in 
spite  of  his  shabby  clothes  and  Western  provin 
cialisms.  "  Old  Gar"  and  the  "Ohio  giant"  were 
the  names  by  which  he  was  best  known  in  col 
lege,  and  a  classmate  says  of  him  that  "  he  im 
mediately  took  a  stand  above  all  his  companions 
for  accurate  scholarship,  and  won  high  honors  as  a 
writer,  reasoner,  and  debater." 

The  beautiful,  mountainous  scenery  about  Wil- 
liamstown  was  a  constant  delight  to  the  young 
Westerner.  He  would  frequently  climb  to  the  top 
of  Greylock  and  feast  his  eyes  upon  the  magniii- 
cent  panorama  below.  He  was  no  longer  obliged 
to  work  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  or  perform  the 
duties  of  janitor,  and  these  long  walks  gave  him 
needful  exercise  as  well  as  pleasant  recreation. 

President  Hopkins  became  greatly  interested  in 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  61 

the  earnest,  enthusiastic  student.  The  ff  friendly 
hand-grasp  "  was  extended  to  him  in  many  ways, 
and,  when  the  summer  vacation  came,  he  offered 
him  the  free  use  of  the  college  library. 

James  gladly  availed  himself  of  this  privilege, 
and  browsed  among  the  books  to  his  heart's  con 
tent.  It  was  the  first  time  in  his  life  that  he  had 
ever  found  leisure  to  read  the  works  of  Shake 
speare,  consecutively.  During  the  summer  vaca 
tion  he  not  only  read  and  thoroughly  studied  the 
plays,  but  committed  large  portions  of  them  to 
memory.  He  also  varied  his  heavier  reading  with 
works  of  fiction,  allowing  himself  one  novel  a 
month.  Dickens  and  Thackeray  were  favorite  au 
thors,  and  Tennyson's  poems  were  read  with  e\rer- 
increasing  pleasure. 

He  completed  his  classical  studies  the  first  year 
he  was  at  Williamstown,  as  he  had  entered  far  in 
advance  of  the  other  pupils.  He  then  took  up 
German  as  an  elective  study,  and,  in  the  space  of 
a  few  months,  had  made  such  rapid  progress 
that  he  could  read  Goethe  and  Schiller,  and  con 
verse  with  fluency. 

In  the  "Williams  Quarterly,"  a  magazine  pub 
lished  by  the  students,  James  took  great  interest, 
and  was  a  frequent  contributor  both  in  prose  and 
poetry. 

The  following  poem,  entitled  "Memory,"  he 
wrote  the  last  year  he  was  at  Williams  College  :  — 


62  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  Tis  beauteous  night;  the  stars  look  brightly  down 
Upon  the  earth,  decked  in  her  robe  of  snow, 
No  light  gleams  at  the  window  save  my  own, 
Which  gives  its  cheer  to  midnight  and  to  me. 
And  now  with  noiseless  step  sweet  Memory  comes, 
And  leads  me  gently  through  her  twilight  realms. 
What  poet's  tuneful  lyfe  has  ever  sung, 
Or  delicatest  pencil  e'er  portrayed 
The  enchanted  shadowy  land  where  Memory  dwells? 
It  has  its  valleys,  cheerless,  lone  and  drear, 
Dark-shaded  by  the  mournful  cypress  tree, 
And  yet  its  sunlit  mountain-tops  are  bathed 
In  heaven's  own  blue.     Upon  its  craggy  cliffs, 
Robed  in  the  dreamy  light  of  distant  years, 
Are  clustered  joys  serene  of  other  days ; 
Upon  its  gently-sloping  hillsides  bend 
The  weeping-willows  o'er  the  sacred  dust 
Of  dear  departed  ones ;  and  yet  in  that  land, 
Where'er  our  footsteps  fall  upon  the  shore, 
They  that  were  sleeping  rise  from  out  the  dust 
Of  death's  long,  silent  years,  and  round  us  stand, 
As  erst  tljey  did  before  the  prison  tomb 
Received  their  clay  within  its  voiceless  halls. 
The  heavens  that  bend  above  that  land  are  hung 
With  clouds  of  various  hues :  some  dark  and  chill, 
Surcharged  with  sorrow,  cast  their  sombre  shade 
Upon  the  sunny,  joyous  land  below ; 
Others  are  floating  through  the  dreamy  air ; 
White  as  the  falling  snow  their  margins  tinged 
With  gold  and  crimson  hues ;  their  shadows  fall 
Upon  the  flowery  meads  and  sunny  slopes, 
Soft  as  the  shadows  of  an  angel's  wing. 
When  the  rough  battle  of  the  day  is  done, 
And  evening's  peace  falls  gently  on  the  heart, 
I  bound  away  across  the  noisy  years, 
Unto  the  utmost  verge  of  Memory's  land, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  63 

Where  earth  and  sky  in  dreamy  distance  meet, 

And  Memory  dim  with  dark  oblivion  joins; 

Where  woke  the  first-remembered  sounds  that  fell 

Upon  the  ear  in  childhood's  early  morn ; 

And  wandering  thence,  along  the  rolling  years, 

I  see  the  shadow  of  my  former  self 

Gliding  from  childhood  up  to  man's  estate. 

The  path  of  youth  winds  down  through  many  a  vale 

And  on  the  brink  of  many  a  dread  abyss, 

From  out  whose  darkness  comes  no  ray  of  light, 

Save  that  a  phantom  dances  o'er  the  gulf, 

And  beckons  toward  the  verge.     Again  the  path 

Leads  o'er  a  summit  where  the  sunbeams  fall; 

And  thus  in  light  and  shade,  sunshine  and  gloom, 

Sorrow  and  joy,  this  life-path  leads  along." 

He  was  also  a  prominent  member  of  the  Philo- 
logian  Society,  of  which  he  was  afterwards  elected 
president. 

While  James  was  at  Williamstown,  the  anti- 
slavery  contest  was  at  a  white  heat.  Charles 
Sumner  had  aroused  the  whole  nation  by  his  stir 
ring,  eloquent  speeches  in  Congress ;  and  when 
the  tidings  came  of  the  attack  made  upon  him  by 
Preston  Brooks  of  South  Carolina,  indignation 
meetings  were  held  everywhere  throughout  the 
North.  At  the  gathering  in  Williamstown,  Garfield 
made  a  most  powerful  speech,  denouncing  slavery 
in  the  strongest  terms. 

"  Hurrah  for  (  Old  Gar  ! '  "  exclaimed  his  class 
mates  ;  "  the  country  will  hear  from  him  yet !" 

When  the  fall  term  closed,  James  looked  about 


LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

for  some  position  as  teacher,  and  finally  opened  a 
writing-school  in  Pownal,  Vermont.  This  brought 
him  in  quite  a  sum  of  money,  and  enlarged  his 
circle  of  acquaintance.  His  sunny  disposition,  his 
energy,  his  warm-hearted,  sympathetic  nature, 
made  him  a  great  favorite  wherever  he  went,  and 
President  Hopkins,  writing  of  him  at  this  time, 
says,  — 

"He  was  prompt,  frank,  manly,  social,  in  his 
tendencies ;  combining  active  exercise  with  habits 
of  study,  and  thus  did  for  himself  what  it  is  the 
object  of  a  college  to  enable  every  young  man  to 
do, — he  made  himself  a  MAN." 

Professor,  now  President,  Chadbourne  adds  his 
testimony  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  college  life  of  James  Garfield  was  so  per 
fect,  so  rounded,  so  pure,  so  in  accordance  with 
what  it  ought  to  be  in  all  respects,  that  I  can  add 
nothing  to  it  by  eulogizing  him.  It  was  a  noble 
college  life ;  everything  about  him  was  high  and 
noble  and  manly.  He  was  one  whom  his  teachers 
would  never  suspect  as  guilty  of  a  dishonest  or 
mean  act,  and  one  whom  a  dishonest  or  mean  man 
would  not  approach.  His  moral  and  religious 
character,  and  marked  intellectual  ability,  gave 
great  promise  of  success  in  the  world." 

At  the  end  of  his  first  collegiate  year,  James 
visited  his  mother,  who  was  then  living  with  her 
married  daughter  in  Solon,  Ohio.  What  a  tall, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  65 

manly  fellow  he  had  grown  to  be  !  What  a  power 
he  would  be  in  the  church,  in  the  world !  Her 
heart  was  full  of  grateful  joy  as  she  realized  how 
abundantly  God  had  answered  her  earnest  prayers. 

The  next  winter  vacation  James  taught  a  school 
in  Poestenkill,  a  little  village  some  six  miles  from 
Troy,  N.  Y.  There  was  a  Church  of  the  Disciples 
in  the  place,  and  James  was  a  frequent  attendant  at 
the  conference  meetings.  His  able  remarks  and 
earnest  exhortations  excited  so  much  comment  that 
the  pastor,  Mr.  Streeter,  invited  him  to  occupy  his 
pulpit.  After  hearing  him  preach  once,  the  people 
declared  that  they  must  hear  him  again,  and  so  it 
came  about  that  almost  every  Sunday  found  the 
young  student  in  the  desk. 

"  He  will  become  the  most  noted  preacher  in 
the  Disciples'  Church,"  said  his  friends  and  class 
mates. 

One  day  a  certain  Mr.  Brooks,  belonging  to  the 
school  committee  at  Troy,  called  upon  him  and 
said, — 

"Our  high  school  needs  a  new  teacher,  Mr. 
Garfield,  and  we  want  you  to  supply  the  vacancy. 
You  wiil  not  find  it  a  difficult  position,  and  we 
will  pay  you  a  salary  of  twelve  hundred  dollars." 

It  was  a  tempting  offer,  and  would  relieve  James 
at  once  of  the  pecuniary  difficulties  that  hung  like 
weights  about  his  feet.  After  taking  some  days 
to  consider  the  matter,  he  finally  said  to  Mr. 
brooks, — 


66  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC   SERVICES    Or 

"  Much  as  I  need  the  money,  I  feel  it  would  not 
be  right  for  me  to  accept  the  position.  It  would 
prevent  me  from  finishing  my  college  course,  and 
so  cramp  me,  intellectually,  for  life.  Then,  again, 
I  feel  under  some  obligation  to  Hiram  Institute, 
where  the  trustees  expect  me  to  return.  My  roots 
seem  to  be  fixed  in  Ohio,  and  the  transplanting 
might  not  succeed ;  it  is  best  for  me  to  complete 
my  studies  here,  and  then  return  to  my  home 
work,  even  for  smaller  pay." 

Abiding  by  this  decision,  James  applied  himself 
to  his  books  with  renewed  energy.  President 
Hopkins  had  established  the'  metaphysical  oration 
as  the  highest  honor  of  the  class,  and  James' 
essay  upon  "  The  Seen  and  the  Unseen  "  bore  off 
the  palm. 

He  graduated  in  August,  1856,  and  among  the 
forty-two  members  that  composed  his  class,  are  a 
number  of  names  that  have  since  won  an  enviable 
distinction. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Return  Home.  —  Appointed  Professor,  then  President,  of  Hiram 
Institute.  —  His  Popularity  as  a  Teacher.  —  Answers  Prof.  Denton. 
—  Marriage. 

UPON  his  return  home,  Garfield  was  immediately 
appointed  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  and 
Literature  at  Hiram  Institute.  Writing  to  a  friend 
at  this  time,  he  says, — 

"  I  have  attained  to  the  height  of  my  ambition. 
I  have  my  diploma  from  an  eastern  college,  and 
my  position  here  at  Hiram  as  instructor ;  and  now 
I  shall  devote  all  my  energies  to  this  Institution." 

The  following  year,  upon  the  resignation  of  A. 
L.  Hay  den,  Garfield  was  appointed  President  of 
Hiram  Institute.  He  was  now  twenty-six  years 
of  age,  and  one  of  his  pupils  writing  of  him  at 
this  time,  says, — 

"He  was  a  tall,  strong  man,  full  of  animal 
spirits,  and  many  a  time  he  used  to  run  out  on  the 
green  and  play  cricket  with  us.  He  combined  an 
affectionate  and  confiding  manner  with  respect  for 
order  in  a  most  successful  manner.  If  he  wanted 
to  speak  to  a  pupil,  either  for  reproof  or  approba 
tion,  he  would  generally  manage  to  get  one  arm 


68  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

around  him  and  draw  him  close  up  to  him.  He 
had  a  peculiar  way  of  shaking  hands,  too,  giving 
a  twist  to  your  arm  and  drawing  you  right  up  to 
him.  This  sympathetic  manner  has  helped  him  to 
advancement.  He  took  very  kindly  to  me,  and 
assisted  me  in  various  ways,  because  I  was  poor 
and  was  janitor  of  the  buildings,  and  swept  them 
out  in  the  morning,  and  built  the  fires,  as  he  had 
done  only  six  years  before,  when  he  was  a  pupil  at 
the  same  school. 

"  Once  when  he  assigned  me  a  task  that  I  feared 
was  beyond  my  powers,  I  said, — 
' '  I  am  afraid  I  cannot  do  that.' 
'What ! '  he  exclaimed,  f  you  are  not  going  to 
give  up  without  trying  !     It  seems  to  me,  Darsie, 
when  one  is  in  a  place  he  can  easily  fill,   it  is 
time  for  him  to  shove  out  of  it  into  one  that  re 
quires  his  utmost  exertion.' " 

The  present  principal  at  Hiram,  President  Hins- 
dale,  was  one  of  Garfield's  pupils,  and  it  was 
through  his  advice  and  constant  encouragement 
that  the  struggling  student  undertook  the  work  of 
a  liberal  education. 

tf  Tell  me,"  he  writes  Hinsdale,  "do  you  not  feel 
a  spirit  stirring  within  you  that  longs  to  know,  to 
do,  and  to  dare,  to  hold  converse  with  the  great 
world  of  thought,  and  hold  before  you  some  high 
and  noble  object  to  which  the  vigor  of  your  mind 
and  the  strength  of  your  arm  may  be  given  ?  Do 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  69 

you  not  have  longings  like  these  which  you  breathe 
to  no  one,  and  which  you  feel  must  be  heeded,  or 
you  will  pass  through  life  unsatisfied  and  regret 
ful?  I  am  sure  you  have  them,  and  they  will  for 
ever  cling  around  your  heart  till  you  obey  their 

mandate God  has  endowed  some  of  His 

children  with  desires  and  capabilities  for  an  ex 
tended  field  of  labor  and  influence,  and  every  life 
should  be  shaped  according"  to  '  what  the  man 
hath.'  I  know  you  have  capabilities  for  occupying 
positions  of  high  and  important  trust  in  the  scenes 
of  active  life.  I  sincerely  hope  you  will  not,  with 
out  an  earnest  struggle,  give  up  a  course  of  liberal 
Btudy." 

Hinsdale,  as  we  all  know,  followed  the  advice 
of  his  earnest,  sympathetic  teacher,  and  is  now 
ranked  among  the  foremost  scholars  of  the  day. 

A  favorite  mode  of  instruction  with  Garfield  was 
by  means  of  lectures. 

"  They  were  upon  all  sorts  of  subjects,"  writes 
one  of  his  pupils,  "  and  were  usually  the  result  of 
his  readings  and  observation.  One  season  he  took 
a  pleasure  trip,  and,  on  his  return,  gave  a  very  in 
teresting  series  on  'The  Chain  of  Lakes,'  includ 
ing  Niagara,  The  Thousand  Isles,  and  sub-historic 
points.  One  lecture  on  aerolites  I  shall  never  for 
get.  About  the  time  of  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter, 
he  gave  several  lectures  upon  '  Ordnance ' ;  and  the 
natural  sciences,  aesthetics,  etc.,  always  came  in 
for  a  share  of  his  effective  treatment." 


70  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

At  one  time  a  certain  Prof.  Denton,  who  was  a 
strong  advocate  of  spiritualism,  gave  a  series  of 
lectures  in  Northern  Ohio,  by  which  he  attempted 
to  prove  the  inaccuracy  of  the  Scriptures.  He  was 
something  of  a  scholar,  and  stated  his  theories  in  so 
plausible  a  manner  that  many  weak  minds  were 
misled.  At  last  he  became  so  bold  that  he  offered 
a  challenge  to  any  and  every  believer  of  the  Bible 
in  Ohio  to  refute  his  Statements. 

The  Churches  of  the  Disciples  were  greatly 
troubled.  Many  of  their  young  men  were  falling 
away,  and  the  false  doctrines  were  gaining  a  rapid 
ascendancy  throughout  the  community.  They 
must  have  a  strong  champion,  who  could  meet 
Professor  Denton  with  sharp  weapons  upon  his  own 
ground.  They  applied  to  Garfield,  who,  after 
some  persuasion,  finally  agreed  to  meet  the  pro 
fessor  upon  the  appointed  evening  and  take  up  his 
challenge.  He  had  only  three  days  to  prepare  for 
the  contest,  but,  selecting  six  of  his  most  advanced 
students,  he  told  them  the  plan  of  argument  he 
had  devised,  and  then  sent  them  to  the  college 
library  to  look  up  the  separate  points.  He  also 
procured  copies  of  all  the  previous  lectures  that 
Professor  Denton  had  delivered,  and  sent  in  va 
rious  directions  for  the  latest  scientific  works. 
When  the  evening  came  he  was  thoroughly  pre 
pared  at  every  point.  A  large  and  excited  audi 
ence  had  gathered  to  hear  the  discussion.  Profes- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  71 

sor  Denton  opened  the  debate.  Supposing  his 
opponent  would  not  dare  to  attack  him  on  scientific 
ground,  he  neglected  to  be  precisely  accurate  in  all 
his  statements.  Garfield  waited  until  he  had  fin 
ished,-  and  then,  with  overwhelming  authority, 
took  up  each  point  of  the  discussion  and  refuted 
all  the  Professor's  arguments  with  the  very  weap 
ons  he  had  himself  been  using.  It  was  a  complete 
victory,  and  Professor  Denton  had  the  manliness 
to  acknowledge  that  he  had  never  before  met  with 
so  gifted  and  powerful  an  adversary. 

As  the  Institute  at  Hiram  was  under  the  special 
patronage  of  the  Disciples,  a  large  number  of 
the  students  in  attendance  were  young  men  who 
were  fitting  for  the  ministry.  Garfield's  position, 
therefore,  as  principal,  gave  him  a  close  connection 
with  church-work.  He  was  a  preacher  as  well  as 
a  teacher,  and  at  one  time  filled  the  pulpits  at 
Solon  and  Newberg  every  Sunday.  At  the  morn 
ing  devotions  it  was  his  custom  to  deliver  a  short, 
impressive  address  ;  his  favorite  hymn  at  these  ser 
vices  was,  "  Ho,  reapers  of  life's  harvest,"  and  his 
pupils  recall  how,  at  the  singing  of  the  last  verse, 
he  would  always  rap  upon  his  desk  and  request 
the  whole  school  to  rise.  He  frequently  preached 
at  the  Disciples'  Church  in  Hiram,  and  everyone 
believed  that  he  would  eventually  choose  the  min 
istry  for  his  profession. 

^ucretia  Rudolph,  the  bright,  attractive  school- 


72  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

mate  to  whom  his  thoughts  had  .so  often  reverted, 
was  now  a  teacher  at  Hiram.  They  had  corre 
sponded  all  the  time  he  was  in  college,  their  long 
friendship  had  ripened  into  a  deep  and  tender  love, 
and  on  the  llth  of  November,  1858,  they-  were 
united  in  marriage. 

A  poet-student  at  Hiram  celebrates  the  event  in 
the  following  ode  :  — 

"Again  a  Mary?     Nay,  Lucretia; 
The  noble,  classic  name 
That  well  befits  our  fair  laclie, 
Our  sweet  and  gentle  dame 
With  heart  as  leal  and  loving 
As  e'er  was  sung  in  lays 
Of  high-born  Roman  nation, 
In  old,  heroic  days; 
Worthy  her  lord  illustrious,  whom 
Honor  and  fame  attend ; 
Worthy  her  soldier's  name  to  wear, 
Worthy  the  civic  wreath  to  share 
That  binds  her  Viking's  tawny  hair; 
Right  proud  are  we  the  world  should  know 
As  hers,  him  whom  we  long  ago 
Found  truest  helper,  friend," 

In  a  humble  little  cottage,  just  in  front  of  the 
college  campus,  they  began  their  wedded  life,  —  a 
lite  whose  wonderful  beauty,  strength,  and  devo 
tion  was  soon  to  be  seen  and  known  of  all  the 
world. 

Mrs.  Garfield  became  as  great  a  favorite  in  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  73 

college  as   her  husband.      One  of  the  graduates 
thus  writes :  — 

"  There  are  men  and  women  scattered  over  the 
United  States,  holding  positions  of  honor  and 
wealth,  who  began  the  life  that  led  them  upward 
by  the  advice  and  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Garfield." 

The  wife  was  always  the  ready  and  efficient 
helpmeet  of  her  husband.  Whenever  he  had  a 
lecture  or  speech  to  prepare,  she  would  search  the 
whole  library,  consulting  every  book  that  per-, 
tained  to  the  subject  in  hand,  and  then  together 
they  would  discuss  the  topic  from  every  point  of 
view.  One,  in  every  thought  and  purpose,  their 
quiet  life  at  Hiram  presented  the  same  beautiful 
home  picture  that  after  honors  could  never  dim 
nor  tarnish. 


74  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Law  Studies.  —  Becomes  Interested  in  Politics. — Delivers  Oration  at 
the  Williams  Commencement.— Elected  State  Senator.  — His 
Courage  and  Eloquence. 

SHORTLY  after  his  marriage,  Garfield  entered  his 
name  in  the  law  office  of  Riddle  and  Williamson, 
attorneys  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  as  a  student  of  law. 
This  formality  was  necessary  in  order  to  ensure 
admission  to  the  bar.  It  was  not  here,  however, 
that  he  studied,  and  for  a  long  time  his  friends 
knew  nothing  of  the  step  he  had  taken.  After  his 
hours  of  teaching,  at  odd  moments  through  the 
day,  and  often  far  into  the  night,  he  pored  over 
his  law-books  with  the  same  intensity  of  purpose 
he  had  shown  in  all  his  other  undertakings. 

It  was  his  patriotic  interest  in  the  measures 
which  were  then  before  the  legislature  of  Ohio 
that  first  led  him  to  take  up  a  critical  study  of  law. 
He  always  wanted  to  go  to  the  bottom  of  things, 
and  his  college  training  under  President  Hopkins 
had  developed  a  wonderful  power  of  synopsizing. 
In  entering  upon  a  course  of  law  studies,  it  was 
not  so  much  with  the  thought  of  becoming  a 
lawyer,  as  to  make  himself  conversant  with  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  75 

principles  of  law.  "When,  however,  he  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar,  he  was  so  thoroughly  equipped 
for  practice,  that  he  could  go  into  courts  of  any 
grade  and  try  the  most  intricate  cases. 
In  later  years  a  friend  said  of  him  :  — 
"  Had  Garfield  gone  to  the  bar  for  a  living,  his 
gift  of  oratory,  his  strong  analytical  powers,  and 
his  ability  to  do  hard  work,  would  soon  have  made 
him  eminent.  In  the  few  law  cases  he  took  during 
vacation  seasons  he  held  his  own  with  some  of  the 
best  lawyers  of  the  country.  In  one  of  them  his 
ability  to  grasp  successfully  with  an  unexpected 
situation  was  signally  demonstrated.  The  case  was 
tried  in  Mobile,  and  involved  the  ownership  of  the 
Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad.  Garfield  had  prepared 
himself  upon  an  important  and  difficult  question 
of  law  involved,  and  felt  a  comfortable  sense  of 
readiness  for  the  trial ;  but  after  he  reached 
Mobile  the  court  ordered  the  consolidation  of  three 
suits  concerning  the  road,  and  the  question  upon 
which  he  had  prepared  himself  passed  wholly  out 
of  sight ;  and,  as  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  '  the  whole 
entanglement  of  an  insolvent  railroad  twenty-five 
years  old,  lying  across  four  states  and  costing 
$20,000,000,  came  upon  us  at  once.'  He  was  as 
signed  the  duty  of  summing  up  the  case  for  his 
side.  During  the  trial  he  did  five  days  and  five 
nignts  of  the  hardest  work  he  ever  did  in  his  life. 
Then  he,  made  his  argument  and  won  the  case." 


76  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

It  will  *be  remembered  that  when  at  college, 
Garfield  always  took  an  active  part  in  political  dis 
cussions,  although  he  did  not  cast  a  vote  until  four 
years  after  his  majority.  At  that  time  the  new 
Kepublican  party  was  formed  on  the  anti-slavery 
platform,  with  Fremont  and  Dayton  as  their  candi 
dates.  Garfield  heartily  sympathized  with  this 
party  that  "  drew  its  first  inspiration  from  that  fire 
of  liberty  which  God  has  lighted  in  every  human 
heart,"  and  from  that  time  forward  became  its 
earnest  and  ready  champion.  During  the  cam 
paign  of  1856  he  was  constantly  called  upon  for 
speeches  and  lectures.  A  pupil  at  Hiram  at  that 
time  says :  — 

"  He  would  attend  to  his  duties  at  the  Institute 
through  the  day,  jump  into  a  buggy  at  night,  tak 
ing  me  or  some  other  student  to  keep  him  com 
pany,  put  his  arm  around  me,  talk  all  the  way  to 
the  place  where  the  meeting  was  to  be  held,  be  it 
ten  or  twenty  miles.  It  wrould  not  be  conversation 
on  politics,  but  on  history,  general  literature,  or 
some  great  principle.  He  was  always  welcomed 
upon  the  platform,  and  after  speaking  would  re 
turn,  taking  up  the  theme  we  had  dropped,  getting 
home  in  the  small  hours  in  the  morning. 

"  At  nine  o'clock  the  next  day  he  would  be  in 
the  school  as  fresh  as  ever.  When  Sunday  came 
he  would  have  a  sermon  as  fresh  and  vigorous  i*s* 
if  it  had  been  the  study  of  the  week.  Ail  t£ie 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  77 

while  he  was  carrying  on  the  study  of  law  and  at 
tending  to  the  duties  incumbent  on  him  as  the 
president  of  the  Institute,  keeping  up  a  course  of 
general  reading,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the 
classics." 

In  1859,  only  three  years  after  his  graduation, 
the  faculty  of  Williams  College  honored  Garfield 
with  an  invitation  to  deliver  the  master's  oration 
at  Commencement.  The  able,  brilliant  speaker  was 
constantly  in  demand,  and  he  won  fresh  laurels 
wherever  he  went. 

Upon  his  return  to  Ohio,  he  found  to  his  sur 
prise  that  his  name  had  been  proposed  in  Portage 
county  for  the  state  senatorship.  The  unanimous 
support  he  received  was  very  gratifying,  yet  his 
first  thought  was  of  the  Institute. 

"You  will  be  away  but  a  few  weeks  at  a  time," 
said  the  trustees  ;  w  your  influence  is  greatly  needed 
at  the  Capitol,  and  Hiram  must  be  content  to 
wait." 

So,  after  much  persuasion,  Garfield  accepted 
the  nomination,  and  the  Institute  jealously  kept 
his  name,  though  deprived  of  his  presence. 

It  was  in  January,  1860,  that  Garfield  first  took 
his  seat  in  the  state  senate.  Secession  and  a  civil 
war  seemed  imminent,  but  the  North  continued 
strong  and  steadfast  in  its  denunciations  against 
slavery.  Garfield,  scarcely  thirty  years  of  age  at 
this  time,  was  the  youngest  member  of  the  senate. 


78  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Jacob  D.  Cox,  another  radical  member,  and  Pro 
fessor  Monroe  of  Oberlin  College,  were  his  inti 
mate  friends  and  zealous  coadjutors.  The  "radi 
cal  triumvirate,"  they  were  called  by  the  opposite 
party ;  and  when  the  constitutional  amendment, 
which  would  give  the  slave  states  the  continuation 
of  slavery,  was  submitted  to  the  Ohio  legislature, 
Garfield  led  the  brave  minority  with  marked 
ability  and  courage. 

In  less  than  ten  years  from  the  time  he  visited 
Columbus  with  his  mother,  he  had  become  one  of 
the  most  prominent  members  of  the  state  senate  ! 

The  following  extract  from  the  Fourth  of  July 
oration  he  delivered  that  year  at  Ravenna  gives  us 
a  passing  glimpse  of  his  patriotic  eloquence  :  — 

"  The  granite  hills  are  not  so  changeless  and 
abiding  as  the  restless  sea.  Quiet  is  no  certain 
pledge  of  permanence  and  safety.  Trees  may 
flourish  and  flowers  may  bloom  upon  the  quiet 
mountain  side,  while  silently  the  trickling  rain 
drops  are  filling  the  deep  cavern  behind  its  rocky 
barriers,  which,  by-and-by,  in  a  single  moment, 
shall  hurl  to  wild  ruin  its  treacherous  peace.  It 
is  true  that  in  our  land  there  is  no  such  outer 
quiet,  no  such  deceitful  repose.  Here  society  is  a 
restless  and  surging  sea.  The  roar  of  the  billows, 
the  dash  of  the  wave,  is  forever  in  our  ears.  Even 
the  angry  hoarseness  of  breakers  is  not  unheard. 
But  there  is  an  understratum  of  deep,  calm  sea, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  7i) 

which  the  breath  of  the  wildest  tempest  can  never 
reach.  There  is,  deep  down  in  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people,  a  strong  and  abiding  love  of  our 
country  and  its  liberty,  which  no  surface-storms 
of  passion  can  ever  shake.  That  kind  of  insta 
bility  which  arises  from  a  free  movement  and  inter 
change  of  position  among  the  members  of  society, 
which  brings  one  drop  up  to  glisten  for  a  time  in 
the  crest  of  the  highest  wave,  and  then  gives  place 
to  another,  while  it  goes  down  to  mingle  again 
with  the  millions  below ;  such  instability  is  the 
surest  pledge  of  permanence.  On  such  instability 
the  eternal  fixedness  of  the  universe  is  based. 
Each  planet,  in  its  circling  orbit,  returns  to  the 
goal  of  its  departure,  and  on  the  balance  of  these 
wildly-rolling  spheres  God  has  planted  the  base  of 
His  mighty  works.  So  the  hope  of  our  national 
perpetuity  rests  upon  that  perfect  individual  free 
dom,  which  shall  forever  keep  up  the  circuit  of 
perpetual  change.  God  forbid  that  the  waters  of 
our  national  life  should  ever  settle  to  the  dead  level 
of  a  waveless  calm.  It  would  be  the  stagnation 
of  death  —  the  ocean  grave  of  individual  liberty.'1 
Garfield  was  elected  to  a  second  term  in  the 
senate,  and  among  the  difficult  questions  he  was 
obliged  to  discuss  the  following  year  that  of  "  State 
Rights  "  was  one  of  the  most  perplexing. 


80  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XII. 

War  declared  between  the  North  and  South.  —  Garfield  forms  a  regi 
ment  from  the  Western  Reserve. — Is  appointed  Colonel.  —  General 
Buell's  Order.  —  Garfield  takes  charge  of  the  18th  Brigade.  —  Jor 
dan's  perilous  journey.  — Bradley  Brown.  —  Plan  of  a  Campaign. 
—  March  against  Marshall. 

THE  Ohio  legislature  was  still  in  session  when, 
upon  that  never-to-be-forgotten  April  day,  in  1861, 
Fort  Sumter  received  the  first  rebel  shot.  The 
news  was  quickly  followed  by  a  call  from  President 
Lincoln  for  seventy-five  thousand  men.  This 
proclamation  was  read  in  the  Ohio  senate ;  and 
amid  deafening  applause,  Garfield  immediately 
sprang  to  his  feet,  and  moved  that  Ohio  should 
contribute  twenty  thousand  men  and  three  million 
dollars  as  the  quota  of  the  state. 

Although  the  preservation  of  the  Union  was  the 
first  thought  that  presented  itself  to  the  minds  of 
the  people,  another  and  deeper  impulse  —  the  over 
throw  of  slavery  —  fired  their  hearts  and  nerved 
their  hands  for  the  coming  conflict. 

To  his  old  pupil,  Mr.  Hinsdale,  Garfield 
writes  :  — 

"My  heart  and  thought  are  full  almost  every 
moment  with  the  terrible  reality  of  our  country's 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  81 

condition.  We  have  learned  so  long  to  look  upon 
the  convulsions  of  European  States  as  things 
wholly  impossible  here,  that  the  people  are  slow 
in  coming  to  the  belief  that  there  may  be  any 
breaking  up  of  our  institutions ;  but  stern,  awful 
certainty  is  fastening  upon  the  hearts  of  men.  I 
do  not  see  any  way,  outside  a  miracle  of  God, 
which  can  avoid  civil  war  with  all  its  attendant  hor 
rors.  Peaceable  dissolution  is  utterly  impossible. 
Indeed  I  cannot  say  that  I  would  wish  it  possible. 
To  make  the  concessions  demanded  by  the  South 
would  be  hypocritical  and  sinful ;  they  would 
neither  be  obeyed  nor  respected.  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  sin  of  slavery  is  one  of  which  it 
may  be  said  that  without  the  shedding  of  blood 
there  is  no  remission." 

Garfield,  always  as  quick  to  act  as  to  speak, 
immediately  oifered  his  services  to  Gov.  Dennison, 
who  at  once  sent  him  to  Missouri  to  obtain  five 
thousand  stands  of  arms  that  General  Lyon  had 
placed  there. 

These  having  been  safely  shipped  to  Columbus, 
Gov.  Dennison  then  sent  Garfield  to  Cleveland  to 
organize  the  seventh  and  eighth  regiments  of  Ohio 
infantry.  He  would  have  appointed  him  colonel  of 
one  of  them,  but  Garfield,  with  his  usual  modesty, 
declined  because  he  had  had  no  military  experience. 
He  agreed,  however,  to  take  a  subordinate  position 
if  he  could  serve  under  a  West  Point  graduate. 


82  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

The  governor  then  appointed  him  lieutenant- 
colonel,  and  commissioned  him  to  raise  a  regiment 
from  the  Western  Reserve.  He  hoped  to  have 
Kis  old  schoolmate,  Captain  Hazen,  of  the  regular 
army,  for  colonel,  but  when  the  governor  sent  on 
for  his  transfer,  General  Scott  refused  to  release 
him. 

Meanwhile,  the  Hiram  students  had  laid  aside 
their  books,  and  flocked  with  patriotic  ardor  to  the 
standard  of  their  old  leader.  The  greater  part  of 
this  forty-second  regiment,  indeed,  was  made  up 
of  Campbellites,  whose  noble  self-sacrifice  in  the 
days  that  followed  will  never  be  forgotten. 

When  the  regiment  went  into  camp  at  Columbus 
it  was  still  without  a  colonel.  Again  the  governor 
begged  Garfield  to  assume  the  command,  and  after 
repeated  requests  he  finally  consented. 

After. making  the  decision,  he  wrote  thus  to  a 
friend : — 

"One  by  one  my  old  plans  and  aims,  modes  of 
thought  and  feeling,  are  found  to  be  inconsistent 
with  present  duty,  and  are  set  aside  to  give  place 
to  the  new  structure  of  military  life.  It  is  not 
without  a  regret,  almost  tearful  at  times,  that  I 
look  upon  the  ruins.  But  if,  as  the  result  of  the 
broken  plans  and  shattered  individual  lives  of 
thousands  of  American  citizens,  we  can  see  on  the 
ruins  of  our  own  national  errors  a  new  and  enduring 
fabric  arise,  based  on  a  larger  freedom  and  higher 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  83 

ustice,  it  will  be  a  small   sacrifice  indeed.     For 

myself  I  am  contented  with  such  a  prospect,  and, 

regarding  my  life  as  given  to  the  country,  am  only 

anxious  to  make  as  much  of  it  as  possible  before 

he  mortgage  upon  it  is  foreclosed." 

Great  noble  heart  !  How  grand  and  pathetic 
hese  words  seem  to-day  as  we  read  them  in  the 
ight  of  the  last  sad  tragedy  ! 

The  Forty-second  regiment  did  not  leave  for  the 
South  until  the  middle  of  September.  It  was 
hen  ordered  to  join  General  Buell's  forces  at 
Louisville.  While  in  camp  near  Columbus,  Gar- 
ield  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  military 
,actics.  With  his  carpenter's  tools  he  cut  out  of 
some  maple-blocks  a  whole  regiment,  and  with 
hese  ingenious  marionnettes  he  mastered  the  art 
>f  infantry.  Then,  forming  a  school  for  his  offi 
cers,  he  required  regular  recitations  in  military 
/actics  and  illustrated  the  different  movements  of 
n  army  by  means  of  his  blocks.  After  this  he 
3ould  easily  institute  all  sorts  of  drills,  and  his 
regiment  soon  gained  the  reputation  of  being  the 
3est  disciplined  in  Ohio. 

When  the  regiment  reached  Cincinnati,  a  tele- 
ram  was  received  from  General  Buell,  requesting 
i  personal  interview  with  Colonel  Garfield.  The 
atter  hastened  on  to  Louisville  and  presented 
limself  at  the  General's  headquarters,  the  follow- 
ng  evening. 


84  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

Looking  the  young  colonel  through  and  through 
with  his  clear,  piercing  eye,  General  Buell  took 
down  a  map,  and  pointed  out  the  position  of  Hum 
phrey  Marshall's  forces  in  East  Kentucky.  He 
then  marked  the  locations  where  the  Unions  troops 
were  posted,  described  the  country,  capabilities, 
etc.,  and  said  to  his  visitor,  — 

"If  you  were  in  command  of  the  sub-depart 
ment  of  Eastern  Kentucky,  what  would  you  do? 
Come  here  at  nine  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  and 
tell  me." 

Garfield  went  back  to  his  hotel,  found  a  map 
of  Kentucky,  the  latest  census  report,  etc.,  and 
then  with  paper,  pen,  and  ink,  sat  down  to  his 
problem.  When  daylight  came  he  was  still  at 
work,  but  nine  o'clock  found  him  at  General 
Buell's  headquarters  with  the  sketch  of  his  plans 
all  completed. 

The  elder  officer  read  it,  and  immediately  made 
it  the  foundation  of  a  special  order  by  which  the 
Eighteenth  Brigade,  Army  of  the  Ohio,  was  organ 
ized,  and  Colonel  Garfield  was  made  its  commander. 

Soon  after,  the  new  brigadier  received  his  letter 
of  instructions  from  General  Buell,  which  was  in 
substance  an  order  to  unite  in  the  face  of  the 
enemy  two  small  companies  of  soldiers  that  were 
stationed  far  apart,  and  drive  the  rebel  General 
Marshall  out  of  Kentucky. 

Garfield  set  out  for  Catlettsburg  without  delay, 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  85 

and  found  his  regiment  had  gone  on  to  the  little 
town  of  Louisa,  some  twenty-eight  miles  up  the 
Big  Sandy  river. 

The  whole  surrounding  country  was  in  a  great 
state  of  excitement.  The  Fourteenth  Kentucky 
regiment  had  been  stationed  at  Louisa,  but  hear 
ing  that  Marshall  with  all  his  forces  was  closely 
following  them,  they  had  hastily  retreated  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Big  Sandy. 

On  the  day  before  Christmas,  Garfield  joined 
his  troops  at  Louisa,  much  to  the  relief  of  the 
terror-stricken  citizens,  who  were  just  preparing 
to  cross  the  river  to  find  a  place  of  safety. 

The  young  commander  had  two  very  important 
and  difficult  things  to  accomplish.  First,  he  must 
communicate  with  Colonel  Cranor ;  then  he  must 
unite  his  own  forces  to  that  officer's,  in  the  face  of 
a  greatly  superior  enemy  that  could,  and  probably 
would,  swoop  down  upon  them  as  soon  as  they 
made  the  least  movement. 

Going  to  Colonel  Moore  of  the  Fourteenth  Ken 
tucky,  he  said, — 

w  I  want  a  man  who  is  not  afraid  to  take  his  life 
in  his  hand  for  the  saving  of  his  country." 

"  There  is  John  Jordan  from  the  head  of  Blaine," 
was  the  reply,  "  I  think  wre  could  rely  upon  him." 

Jordan  was  immediately  sent  for,  and,  notwith 
standing  his  uncanny  appearance,  Garfield  was  at 
once  prepossessed  in  his  favor.  He  was  tall  and 


86  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

lank,  with  hollow  cheeks  and  a  curious  squeaking 
voice.  Born  and  bred  among  the  Kentucky  hills, 
he  was  rough  and  untutored,  but  his  clear,  gray 
eyes  showed  an  unflinching  courage  and  a  doAvn- 
right  honesty,  that  Garfield  read  with  unerring 
intuition. 

"  Are  you  willing  to  risk  your  life  for  the  coun 
try?"  he  asked. 

"  Oh,  yes,  sir  ! "  was  the  ready  response.  "  When 
I  volunteered,  I  gave  up  my  life  for  jest  what  it 
was  wuth.  If  the  Lord  sees  fit  to  make  use  of  it 
now,  I'm  willin'  He  should  take  it." 

"  Do  you  mean  you  have  come  into  the  war  not 
expecting  to  get  out  of  it  ?  " 

"  Yes,  gin'ral,  that's  how  I  meant  it." 

"  And  are  you  willing  to  die  rather  than  give  up 
this  despatch?" 

"That's  the  gospel  truth,  gin'ral." 

"  Well,  then,  I  think  I  can  trust  it  with  you." 

So  saying,  Garfield  rolled  up  into  the  form  of  a 
bullet  the  tissue-paper  on  wrhich  the  despatch  was 
written ;  he  then  coated  it  with  warm  lead  and 
gave  it  to  Jordan.  He  also  gave  him  a  carbine, 
a  brace  of  revolvers,  and  the  swiftest  horse  in  the 
regiment. 

The  dangerous  journey  was  to  be  taken  only  by 
night,  and  in  the  day-time  the  messenger  was  to 
hide  in  the  woods. 

It  was  just  at  midnight  of  the  second  day  when 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  87 

Jordan  reached  Colonel  Cranor's  quarters  at  Mc- 
Cormick's  Gap  with  his  precious  bullet. 

Upon  opening  the  despatch  the  colonel  found  it 
was  dated  Louisa,  Dec.  24th.  The  order  read  to 
move  his  regiment  as  soon  as  possible  to  Preston- 
burg,  to  take  as  little  baggage  and  as  few  rations 
as  possible,  as  the  safety  of  his  command  would 
depend  upon*  his  expedition.  Hours  were  worth 
months  at  such  a  time ;  and  early  on  the  following 
morning  Colonel  Cranor's  regiment  was  on  the 
move.  It  consisted  of  one  thousand  one  hundred 
men,  while  Garfield's  larger  division  numbered  about 
seventeen  hundred.  The  enemy,  under  Gen.  Mar 
shall,  were  stationed  with  the  main  body  of  their 
forces  near  Paintville ;  but  a  company  of  eight 
hundred  were  at  West  Liberty,  a  town  directly  on 
the  route  by  which  Colonel  Cranor  was  to  join  Gen 
eral  Garfield.  It  was  a  hazardous  expedition,  but 
the  brigadier  colonel  knew  he  must  obey  orders. 

On  the  morning  after  Jordan's  departure  for 
Cranor's  camp,  Garfield  set  out  with  his  men  and 
halted  at  George's  Creek,  which  was  only  twenty 
miles  from  Marshall's  intrenched  position  at  Paint 
ville.  The  roads  along  the  Big  Sandy  were  im 
passable  for  trains,  so  Garfield  decided  to  depend 
upon  boats  to  transport  his  supplies.  At  this  time 
of  the  year,  however,  the  stream  was  very  uncer 
tain,  as  heavy  freshets  often  rendered  navigation 
impossible  for  a  number  of  days. 


88  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Garfield,  however,  was  used  to  contending  with 
difficulties,  and  was  not  easily  discouraged.  Taking 
ten  days'  rations,  he  chartered  two  small  steam 
boats  and  all  the  flat  boats  he  could  find,  and  loaded 
them  with  provisions. 

Next  morning,  just  as  they  were  starting,  one 
of  the  soldiers  came  up  to  Garfield  and  said, — 

"  There's  a  rough-looking  man  out  here,  colonel, 
who  says  he  must  see  you." 

Garfield  stepped  forward,  and  immediately  re 
cognized  in  the  disreputable-looking  tramp  before 
him,  Bradley  Brown,  one  of  his  old  companions  on 
the  canal  boat. 

It  seemed  that  he  belonged  to  the  rebel  army, 
and  had  heard  a  few  days  previous  that  Garfield, 
for  whom  he  had  always  cherished  a  strong  affec 
tion,  was  commanding  the  Union  forces  in  that 
part  of  Kentucky. 

Going  to  Marshall  he  told  him  of  his  former 
acquaintance  with  Garfield,  aifd  the  help  it  might 
now  prove  to  them  if  he  should  enter  the  camp 
and  find  out  all  about  the  Union  forces.  Marshall 
was  entirely  deceived  by  the  plausibility  of 
Brown's  argument,  never  once  dreaming  that  the 
tables  might  be  turned  upon  himself. 

Brown's  real  purpose  was  to  warn  Garfield  of 
the  rebel's  strength  and  purpose,  and  he  desired, 
above  all  things,  to  serve  in  the  ranks  of  his  old 
benefactor.  He  was  -just  the  man  that  the  Union 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  89 

army  wanted  for  a  scout,  and  Garfield,  when 
assured  of  his  loyalty,  employed  him  to  recon 
noitre  through  the  mountain  borders  of  Virginia. 

The  safe  return  of  Jordan  the  following  day, 
after  many  hairbreadth  escapes,  encouraged  Gar- 
field  to  organize  a  "secret  service,"  which  Rose- 
crans  used  to  call  "the  eyes  of  the  army." 

It  was  a  long,  wearisome  march  for  the  Union 
forces,  but  on  the  sixth  of  January,  1862,  they 
arrived  within  six  miles  of  Paintville.  While  they 
were  halting  there,  a  messenger  arrived  from 
General  Buell  with  an  intercepted  letter  of  Mar 
shall's  to  his  wife.  It  disclosed  the  fact  that  the 
rebels  had  four  thousand  four  hundred  infantry 
and  six  hundred  cavalry,  and  that  they  were  daily 
expecting  an  onslaught  of  ten  thousand  from  the 
Union  forces. 

Garfield  assembled  a  council  of  his  officers. 

"  What  shall  we  do  ?  "  he  said.  "  Is  it  better  to 
march  at  once,  or  wait  for  Cranor  and  his  forces?  " 

All  but  one  of  the  officers  declared  it  was  better 
to  wait,  but  that  one  said:  "Let  us  move  on  at 
once — our  fourteen  hundred  can  whip  ten  thousand 
rebels." 

Garfield  paused  a  moment,  as  if  in  deep  reflec 
tion.  Then  he  exclaimed,  "  Well,  forward  it  is. 
Give  the  order." 

There  were  three  roads  that  led  down  to  the 
enemy's  intrenchment.  One  of  these  was  a  river 


90  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

road  upon  the  western  bank  ;  another  was  a  very 
winding  road  and  came  in  at  the  mouth  of  Jenny's 
Creek :  the  third  and  most  direct  lay  between  the 
others,  but  it  was  very  difficult  to  pass  because  of 
the  intervening  ridges. 

In  order  to  mislead  Marshall  as  to  the  real 
strength  of  his  forces,  Garfield  ordered  a  small 
division  of  his  infantry  to  approach  by  the  river 
road,  drive  in  the  enemy's  pickets,  and  then  move 
rapidly  after  them,  as  if  preparing  an  attack  upon 
Paintville.  A  similar  force  was  sent  off  two 
hours  later  along  the  mountain  road.  A  third 
detachment  was  ordered  to  take  the  road  at  the 
mouth  of  Jenny's  creek. 

The  result  of  this  strategy  was  just  what  Gar- 
field  had  foreseen.  When  the  pickets  on  the  first 
route  were  attacked,  they  hurried  back  to  Paint 
ville  in  great  confusion,  and  sent  word  to  Mar 
shall  that  the  Union  army  was  coming  up  by  the 
river  road.  A  large  detachment  of  the  rebel 
forces  was  at  once  dispatched  to  this  point,  but, 
by  the  time  they  reached  them,  the  tidings  had 
come  that  Garfield's  forces  were  approaching  by 
the  mountain  road.  The  rebel  general  then  coun 
termanded  his  first  order,  only  to  find  his  pickets 
had  been  attacked  at  another  point.  Finally,  in 
utter  confusion,  they  abandoned  Paintville  and  fled 
to  the  fortified  camp,  declaring  that  the  whole 
Union  army  was  in  hot  pursuit. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  91 

Garfield  immediately  pushed  forward  and  took 
possession  of  Paintville.  This  was  on  the  after 
noon  of  January  8th.  Later  in  the  evening,  a 
rebel  spy  came  to  Marshall's  camp  and  told  him 
that  Cranor,  with  three  thousand  three  hundred 
men,  was  within  twelve  hours'  march  to  the  west 
ward. 

The  rebel  general  naturally  concluded  that  he 
was  to  be  attacked  by  a  band  of  Union  forces  far 
outnumbering  his  own.  He  therefore  broke  up 
camp  and  retreated  so  hastily  that  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  behind  a  large  quantity  of  his  supplies. 

At  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  Garfield,  with  a 
thousand  of  his  men,  took  possession  of  the  de 
serted  camp,  and  waited  there  for  the  arrival  of 
Cranor. 

Next  morning  Cranor  arrived,  but  his  men  were 
so  tired  and  footsore  they  seemed  in  no  condition 
for  making  an  attack.  Garfield,  however,  knew 
that  the  time  had  come  for  a  decisive  challenge, 
and  so  he  ordered  to  the  front  all  who  were  able  to 
march.  Eleven  hundred,  —  and  four  hundred  of 
these  were  from  Cranor's  exhausted  ranks  —  obeyed 
the  call,  and  hastened  after  Marshall  and  his  re 
treating  army. 

The  Union  forces  had  marched  about  eighteen 
miles  when  they  came  to  the  mouth  of  Abbott's 
Creek,  three  miles  below  Prestonburg.  Here 
Garfield  learned  that  Marshall  and  his  army  were 


92  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

encamping  on  the  same  stream  some  three  miles 
distant.  As  it  was  then  nine  o'clock  in  the  even 
ing  he  ordered  his  men  to  put  up  their  tents,  and 
then  he  sent  a  messenger  back  tb  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Sheldon,  who  had  been  left  in  command 
at  Paintville,  and  ordered  him  to  bring  up  the  re 
mainder  of  the  army  as  soon  as  possible. 

The  whole  night  he  spent  in  reconnoitring 
about  the  country,  so  eager  was  he  to  know  the 
exact  arrangement  of  Marshall's  troops  and  the 
probable  contingencies  of  a  battle. 

Jordan's  ride  through  the  enemy's  country  had 
been  of  invaluable  service  to  him.  Marshall  had 
strongly  posted  his  army  on  a  semi-circular  hill  at 
the  forks  of  Middle  Creek,  and  was  quietly  wait 
ing  there  in  ambuscade  for  the  approach  of  the 
Union  forces. 

It  was  a  chill  night,  and  a  driving  rain  added 
to  the  cheerlessness  of  the  dreary  bivouac  in  the 
valley. 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  93 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Opening1  of  Hostilities.  —  Brave  Charge  of  the  Hiram  Students.  —  Giv 
ing  the  Rebels  "Hail  Columbia."  —  Sheldon's  Reinforcement. — 
The  Rebel  Commander  Falls.  —  His  Army  Retreats  in  Confusion. 

WITH  the  first  glimmer  of  light  in  the  east, 
Garfield's  men  begin  their  march  down  into  the 
valley.  As  the  advance  guard  turns  a  jutting 
ridge,  it  is  fired  upon  by  a  company  of  rebel 
horsemen.  Instantly  Garfield  forms  his  soldiers 
into  a  hollow  square,  and  a  heavy  volley  from  their 
rifles  drives  the  enemy  back. 

Marshall  and  his  whole  army  must  be  close  by,  but 
to  find  out  their  exact  position,  Garfield  sends  for 
ward  a  reconnoitring  party.  Suddenly  a  twelve- 
pound  shell  whirs  above  the  tree -tops,  and  tears 
up  the  ground  at  their  feet.  But  the  mounted 
company  of  twelve  go  bravely  forward ;  and  as 
they  sweep  around  a  curve  in  the  road,  another 
shell  whistles  past  them,  and  they  can  hear  in  the 
distance  a  threatening  rumble. 

The  enemy's  position  is  at  once  clearly  defined. 
The  main  body  of  their  army  is  posted  upon  the 
top  of  two  ridges  at  the  left  of  Middle  Creek,  but 


94  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

there  is  also  a  strong  detachment  upon  the  right, 
with  a  battery  of  heavy  artillery  to  hold  the  forks 
of  the  stream.  Marshall's  plan  is  to  draw  the 
Union  forces  down  into  the  narrow  rocky  road 
along  the  Creek,  where  between  two  fires,  he 
knows  it  will  be  an  easy  matter  to  hem  them  in 
and  utterly  destroy  the  whole  number. 

But  Garfield,  with  his  quick  intuition,  takes  in 
the  situation  at  a  glance.  He  immediately  orders 
a  hundred  of  his  Hiram  students  to  cross  the 
stream,  climb  the  ridge  where  the  firing  has  been 
most  frequent,  and  open  the  battle. 

Bravely  the  little  company  plunge  into  the  icy 
stream,  and  clinging  to  the  low  underbrush,  begin 
the  perilous  ascent.  A  shower  of  bullets  from  two 
thousand  rifles  is  falling  all  around  them,  but 
nothing  daunted,  they  press  onward  till  the  summit 
is  reached.  Then,  from  every  side  the  deadly 
shots  are  hurled,  and,  for  a  moment,  the  little  band 
begin  to  waver. 

"  Every  man  to  a  tree  ! :>  shouts  the  leader,  Cap 
tain  Williams.  "  Give  them  as  good  as  they  send, 
boys ! " 

The  word  passes  from  lip  to  lip,  and  instantly 
from  behind  the  great  oaks  and  maples,  they  take 
their  stand,  and  open  a  volley  of  fire  upon  the 
rebels.  This  is  followed  by  a  hand-to-hand  fight 
with  the  bayonets,  and  little  by  little,  the  brave 
boys  are  driven  back. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  95 

"  To  the  trees  again  !  "  cries  the  leader,  "  we  may 
as  well  die  here  as  in  Ohio  ! " 

One  of  the  Hiram  students,  a  lad  of  eighteen,  is 
shot  through  the  thigh,  and  a  confederate  soldier 
passing  by  says  to  him, — 

"Here,  boy,  give  me  your  musket."  "Not  the 
gun,  but  its  contents,"  he  replies,  and  in  another 
instant  the  rebel  lies  dead  at  his  feet.  His  compan 
ion  takes  up  a  weapon  to  kill  the  brave  young 
student,  but  the  latter  seizes  the  dead  man's  rifle 
and,  with  unerring  aim,  fells  him  to  the  ground. 

When  his  comrades  bear  him  away  to  the  camp, 
and  a  surgeon  tells  him  that  the  wounded  limb 
must  be  amputated,  his  only  words  are :  "  Oh, 
what  will  mother  do  ?  " 

The  story  of  the  noble  lad  — Charles  Carlton  of 
Franklin,  Ohio,  —  is  told  in  the  Ohio  Senate,  two 
weeks  later,  and  a  statute  is  immediately  framed 
to  make  provision  for  the  widows  and  mothers  of 
our  soldiers. 

A  hundred  men  like  young  Carlton  present  a 
steady  resistance  to  the  enemy's  fire,  but  Garfield 
watching  them  from  a  rocky  height,  realizes  their 
perilous  situation  and  exclaims,  — 

"  They  will  surely  be  driven  back,  they  will  lose 
the  hill  unless  supported." 

Instantly,  five  hundred  of  the  Ohio  Fortieth  and 
Forty-second,  under  Major  Pardee  and  General 
Cranor,  are  ordered  forward. 


96  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

ft  Hurrah  for  Captain  Williams  and  his  Hiram 
boys  !  "  they  shout,  as  they  ford  the  stream,  hold 
ing  their  cartridge-boxes  high  above  their  heads. 
But  the  fire  of  four  thousand  muskets  fall  upon 
them  and  though,  — 

"  Bravely  they  fight  and  well, 
Stormed  at  with  shot  and  shell," 

the  unequal  contest  is  quickly  noted  by  the  Union 
commander. 

"This  will  never  do,"  he  exclaims.  "Who  will 
volunteer  to  carry  the  crest  of  the  mountain  ?  " 

"Let  us  go  forward,"  cries  Colonel  Monroe,  of 
the  Twenty-second  Kentucky,  "we  know  every 
inch  of  the  ground." 

"Go  in,  then,"  says  Garfield,  "and  give  them 
'Hail  Columbia!'" 

Crossing  the  stream  a  little  lower  down,  they 
mount  the  ridge  to  the  left,  and  in  ten  minutes  are 
face  to  face  with  the  rebel  army. 

"Don't  shoot  till  you  see  the  eyes  of  your 
enemy,"  shouts  the  colonel,  and  although  the  men 
have  never  been  in  battle  before,  they  are  as  cool 
and  calm  as  their  commander. 

Five  hundred  against  five  thousand  !  It  was  a 
fearful  contest,  equalled  only  by  the  famous  charge 
of  the  "Light  Brigade." 

"  Cannon  to  right  of  them, 
Cannon  to  left  of  them, 
Cannon  in  front  of  them, 
Volleyed  and  thundered!" 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  97 

And  Garfield,  standing  upon  a  rock  scarred 
with  bullets,  watched  and  waited  for  Sheldon's  re 
inforcements,  until,  fearing  the  little  band  would 
be  forced  to  retreat,  he  turned  to  the  company 
held  back  as  reserves,  threw  his  military  cloak 
into  a  tree,  and  exclaimed,  — 

"  Come  on,  boys  !  It  is  our  turn  now  to  give 
them  'Hail  Columbia' !  "  And  then,  as  the  ballad 
tells  the  story,  — 

•*  He  led,  they  followed,  spreading  wide 

Among  the  rebels  routed ; 
From  rank  to  rank,  in  liberal  gift, 
The  self-same  thing  he  shouted." 

The  short  winter's  day  was  almost  over.  Hotter 
and  hotter  raged  the  battle,  but  the  Union  forces, 
in  spite  of  their  inferior  number,  were  constantly 
gaining  ground.  They  seemed  infused  with  the 
indomitable  spirit  of  their  commander.  Their 
coolness  and  intrepidity  gave  added  power  to 
every  shot,  while  the  enemy,  not  understanding 
the  difficulty  of  firing  "down  hill,"  frequently 
missed  aim  and  let  their  bullets  fall  harmlessly 
upon  the  tree-tops,  or  far  beyond  the  mark. 

At  this  juncture,  Dr.  Pomerene,  the  surgeon  of 
the  Ohio  Forty-second,  saw  a  gleam  of  muskets  in 
the  distance.  Hatless  and  excited,  he  mounted  a 
fleet  horse,  crossed  the  stream,  and  hurried  on 
to  ascertain  what  colors  were  borne  by  the  com 
ing  troops.  The  glorious  star-spangled  banner 


98  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

met  his  eyes,  and,  drawing  nearer,  he  saluted 
Colonel  Sheldon  with  the  longed-for  reinforce 
ments. 

"  For  God's  sake,  hurry  !  "  he  cried,  "  or  the 
boys  on  the  other  side  will  be  captured  ! " 

From  his  elevated  position  on  the  opposite  hill, 
Marshall  had  already  descried  the  starry  banner, 
and  Sheldon's  fresh  troops  hurrying  to  the  rescue. 

"Retreat!"  he  shouted  to  his  men,  and  then, 
pierced  by  six  bullets,  he  fell  to  the  ground. 
Night  closed  about  the  contending  armies,  the 
rebels  were  seized  with  a  sudden  panic  and  fled 
wildly  in  all  directions. 

"  God  bless  you,  boys  !  You  have  saved  Ken 
tucky  ! "  exclaimed  Garfield,  as  he  led  the  victo 
rious  troops  back  to  camp.  It  was,  indeed,  a 
wonderful  contest.  The  entire  loss  on  the  federal 
side  was  but  one  killed  and  eleven  wounded. 

"In  all  the  battles  of  the  late  war,"  writes 
Edmund  Kirke,  in  the  New  York  Tribune, 
"  there  was  not  another  like  it.  Measured  by  the 
forces  engaged,  the  valor  displayed,  and  the  re 
sults  that  followed,  it  throws  into  shade  the 
achievements  of  even  that  mighty  host  that  saved 
the  nation." 

It  was  the  first  decided  victory  upon  the  Union 
side,  but,  years  after,  Garfield  himself  said  of  the 
skirmish, 

"I  see  now,  that  favorably  as  it  terminated,  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  99 

engagement  was  a  very  rash  and  imprudent  affair 
on  my  part.  A  West  Point  officer  would  probably 
have  had  more  caution,  and  would  not  have  at 
tempted  so  unequal  a  contest.  I  didn't  know  any 
better,  then." 


100  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

Garfield's  Address  to  his  Soldiers.  —  Starvation  Stares  them  in  the 
Face.  —  Garfield  takes  Command  of  the  "Sandy  Valley."  —  Peril 
ous  Trip  up  the  River. — Garfield's  Address  to  the  Citizens 
of  Sandy  Valley. — Pound  Gap.  —  Garfield  Resolves  to  Seize 
the  Guerillas. —The  Old  Mountaineer.  — Successful  Attack.— 
General  Buell's  Message.  —  Garticld  is  Appointed  Brigadier- 
General. 

MARSHALL  and  his  entire  force  were  dislodged 
from  their  intrenchments.  Garfield  had  obeyed 
General  Buell's  orders,  and  the  following  day  he 
issued  the  following  address  to  his  army  :  — 

"  Soldiers  of  the  Eighteenth  Brigade  : 

"  I  am  proud  of  you  all !  In  four  weeks 
you  have  marched  some  eighty,  and  some  a 
hundred  miles,  over  almost  impassable  roads. 
One  night  in  four  you  have  slept,  often  in 
the  storm,  with  only  a  winter  sky  above  your 
heads.  You  have  marched  in  the  face  of  a  foe 
of  more  than  double  your  number  —  led  on  by 
chiefs  who  have  won  a  national  renown  under  the 
old  flag  —  intrenched  in  hills  of  his  own  choos 
ing,  and  strengthened  by  all  the  appliances  of 
military  art.  With  no  experience  but  the  con- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  101 

sciousness  of  your  own  manhood,  you  have  driven 
him  from  his  strongholds,  pursued  his  inglorious 
flight,  and  compelled  him  to  meet  you  in  battle. 
When  forced  to  fight,  he  sought  the  shelter  of 
rocks  and  hills  ;  you  drove  him  from  his  position, 
leaving  scores  of  his  bloody  dead  unburied.  His 
artillery  thundered  against  you,  but  you  compelled 
him  to  flee  by  the  light  of  his  burning  stores,  and 
to  leave  even  the  banner  of  his  rebellion  behind 
him.  I  greet  you  as  men.  Our  common  country 
will  not  forget  you.  She  will  not  forget  the 
sacred  dead  who  fell  beside  you,  nor  those  of  your 
comrades  who  w^on  scars  of  honor  on  the  field. 
I  have  called  you  from  the  pursuit  that  you  may 
regain  vigor  for  still  greater  exertions.  Let  no 
one  tarnish  his  well-earned  honor  by  any  act  un 
worthy  an  American  soldier.  Remember  your 
duties  as  American  citizens,  and  sacredly  respect 
the  rights  and  property  of  those  with  whom  you 
may  come  in  contact.  Let  it  not  be  said  that 
good  men  dread  the  approach  of  an  American 
army.  Officers  and  soldiers,  your  duty  has  been 
nobly  done.  For  this  I  thank  you." 

The  enemy,  after  burning  their  supplies  and 
baggage  of  every  description,  had  made  their 
escape  through  Pound  Gap,  and  Garfield  knew 
that  it  would  be  worse  than  useless  to  pursue  them 
any  farther.  His  own  little  force  wras  greatly  ex 
hausted  and  short  of  food,  as  it  had  started  with 


102  LIFE    AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES    OF 

only  two  days'  rations.  A  heavy  rain-storm  had 
caused  an  overflow  of  the  Big  Sandy,  and  a  large 
part  of  the  valley  was  under  water.  The  boats 
were  all  detained  in  the  Ohio,  and  among  them  the 
steamers  that  Garfield  had  loaded  with  provisions 
for  his  troops.  Meanwhile,  starvation  stared  them 
in  the  face.  Foraging  was  strictly  forbidden,  and 
if  it  had  been  possible  for  them  to  march  over  the 
muddy  roads,  it  would  have  been  in  disobedience 
to  orders,  for  the  enemy  might  at  any  moment  re 
turn  and  take  possession  of  the  country. 

The  young  commander  saw  but  one  way  out  of 
the  difficulty.  Calling  Brown,  his  faithful  scout, 
he  said  to  him, — 

"  What  do  you  say  to  our  going  down  the  river 
and  hurrying  up  the  supplies  ?  The  boatmen  say 
it  can't  be  done,  but  you  and  I  have  had  some  ex 
perience  on  the  water." 

"I  say,  gin'ral,"  answered  Brown,  "  I'd  ruther 
drown  than  starve,  any  day.  Jest  give  me  the 
word  for 't,  and  I'm  yer  right-hand  man  !  " 

"We'll  go,  Brown,"  was  the  laconic  reply, 
and,  boarding  a  small  skiff,  they  floated  down 
the  seething  waters  to  the  mouth  of  the  Big 
Sandy. 

Here  they  found  a  small  steamboat,  called  the 
"  Sandy  Valley,"  which  had  formerly  been  in  the 
quartermaster's  service.  This,  Garfield  loaded 
with  supplies,  and  ordered  up  river. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  103 

The  captain,  who  was  a  secessionist,  declared  it 
was  impossible  to  stem  the  current  in  such  a 
flood.  The  water  was  at  least  sixty  feet  deep,  and 
the  trees  along  the  banks  were  covered  to  their 
topmost  branches. 

"  I  will  take  the  command  of  this  steamer,"  said 
Garfield  in  an  authoritative  tone,  at  the  same  time 
ordering  the  captain  and  his  men  to  get  on  board. 

Placing  Brown  at  the  bow,  Garfield  took  his 
stand  at  the  helm.  The  most  careful  steering  was 
necessary,  for  the  water  was  full  of  dangerous 
snags  and  treacherous  banks  of  sand.  At  one 
time  the  boat  ran  aground. 

"  We  must  get  a  line  to  the  opposite  shore  !  " 
exclaimed  Garfield. 

"It  can't  be  done,"  said  the  rebel  captain;  "its 
death  to  any  man  that  attempts  it !  " 

"  It  must  be  done  ! "  cried  Garfield,  as  he  sprang 
into  a  yawl  and  called  Brown  to  follow.  For  a 
few  moments  it  seemed  as  if  the  little  boat  would 
be  overborne  by  the  current  and  utterly  sub 
merged.  But  the  strong  arm  and  indomitable  will 
at  last  prevailed.  Another  moment  of  fearful 
suspense,  and  the  opposite  shore  was  gained.  It 
was  an  easy  matter,  then,  to  fasten  the  rope,  con 
struct  a  windlass,  and  draw  the  steamboat  out  of 
the  mad. 

For  two  days  and  the  greater  part  of  one  night, 
Garfield  stood  at  the  wheel,  and  at  nine  o'clock 


104  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  following  morning  the  provisions  were  safely 
landed  at  Paintville. 

"Had  it  not  been  for  my  experience  on  the 
canal-boat,"  he  said,  afterwards,  "I  could  never 
have  managed  that  trip  up  the  Big  Sandy." 

When  the  half-famished  men  saw  the  boat  and 
their  noble  commander  at  the  helm,  they  could 
hardly  contain  themselves.  They  shouted  and 
cheered,  and  would  have  borne  him  in  triumph 
upon  their  shoulders  had  he  not  made  a  resolute 
protest  against  such  manifestations. 

The  whole  neighboring  country  about  Paintville 
were  greatly  terrified  when  they  heard  of  Mar 
shall's  retreat.  The  rebel  troops  spread  such 
alarming  reports  of  the  hostile  intentions  of  the 
Union  forces  that  the  people  left  their  homes  and 
took  refuge  in  the  woods. 

To  quiet  their  fears,  Garfield  issued  the  follow 
ing:— 

"  Citizens  of  8andy  Valley  : 

"  I  have  come  among  you  to  restore  the  honor 
of  the  Union,  and  to  bring  back  the  old  banner 
which  you  once  loved,  but  which,  by  the  machina 
tions  of  evil  men,  and  by  mutual  misunderstand 
ing,  has  been  dishonored  among  you.  To  those 
who  are  in  arms  against  the  Federal  Government, 
I  offer  only  the  alternative  of  battle  or  unconditional 
surrender.  But  to  those  who  have  taken  no  part 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  105 

in  this  war,  who  are  in  no  way  aiding  or  abetting 
the  enemies  of  this  Union  —  even  to  those  who 
hold  sentiments  averse  to  the  Union,  but  will  give 
no  aid  or  comfort  to  its  enemies — I  offer  the  lull 
protection  of  the  government,  both  in  their  persons 
and  property. 

"  Let  those  who  have  been  seduced  away  from 
the  love  of  their  country  to  follow  after  and  aid 
the  destroyers  of  our  peace,  lay  down  their  arms, 
return  to  their  homes,  bear  true  allegiance  to  the 
Federal  Government,  and  they  shall  also  enjoy 
like  protection.  The  army  of  the  Union  wages  no 
war  of  plunder,  but  comes  to  bring  back  the  pros 
perity  of  peace.  Let  all  peace-loving  citizens, 
who  have  fled  from  their  homes,  return  and  resume 
again  the  pursuits  of  peace  and  industry.  If  cit 
izens  have  suffered  any  outrages  by  the  soldiers 
under  my  command,  I  invite  them  to  make  known 
their  complaints  to  me,  and  their  wrongs  shall  be 
redressed  and  the  offenders  punished.  I  expect 
the  friends  of  the  Union  in  this  valley  to  banish 
from  among  them  all  private  feuds,  and  let  a 
liberal  love  of  country  direct  their  conduct  toward 
those  who  have  been  so  sadly  estrayed  and  mis 
guided,  hoping  that  these  days  of  turbulence  may 
soon  be  ended  and  the  days  of  the  Republic  soon 
return. 

"J.  A.  GARFIELD, 
"  Colonel  Commanding  Brigade." 


106  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

This  promise  of  protection  allayed  the  fears  of 
the  people,  and  they  began  to  flock  about  the 
Union  camp.  From  them  Garfield  learned  that 
Marshall  and  his  forces  were  still  lurking  about 
the  country.  At  last,  through  the  scout,  Jordan, 
he  found  out  that  a  grand  muster  of  the  rebel 
militia  was  to  meet  in  Pound  Gap  on  the  15th  of 
March,  and  that,  by  uniting  their  forces,  they 
hoped  to  enter  Kentucky  and  drive  out  the  Union 
army. 

Pound  Gap  is  a  narrow  opening  in  the  Cumber 
land  mountains  and  leads  into  Virginia.  On  the 
top  of  the  gorge  through  which  the  road  passes, 
the  rebels  had  built  a  long  line  of  huts ;  and, 
directly  across  the  gap,  they  had  thrown  up  a 
breastwork,  behind  which  they  declared  five  hun 
dred  men  could  easily  resist  five  thousand. 

About  six  hundred  of  the  rebel  militia  under 
Major  Thompson  had  been  stationed  here  for  a 
number  of  weeks.  Forming  guerilla  bands,  they 
would  come  down  into  the  peaceful  valleys  and 
commit  all  sorts  of  depredations.  Before  the  ter 
rified  inhabitants  could  offer  any  resistance  they 
would  retreat  to  their  strongholds,  where  pursuit 
was  impossible. 

Garfield  felt  his  work  in  Kentucky  would  not  be 
done  until  some  effort  had  been  made  to  break  up 
these  mountain  hordes.  When  he  heard  of  the  in 
tended  muster,  he  set  out  with  seven  hundred  men, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  107 

and,  although  the  way  was  beset  with  difficulties, 
he  pushed  on  through  swollen  streams  and  muddy 
roads  until  he  was  within  two  miles  of  the  rebel 
garrison.  His  plan  was  to  send  one  hundred  of 
his  horsemen  up  the  road  to  attract  the  enemy's 
attention,  while  he,  with  the  six  hundred  infantry, 
were  climbing  the  steep  side  of  the  mountain  and 
attacking  the  rebels  on  the  flank. 

He  could  find  no  one,  however,  to  act  as  a  guide 
in  this  perilous  expedition,  until  one  morning  an 
old  man,  with  long  hair  and  snow-white  beard, 
came  into  camp. 

"  I  came  down  the  mountain  ten  days  ago,"  he 
said,  "  and  where  I  can  come  down,  ye  can  go  up." 

"But,  do  you  think  we  can  get  over  the  road 
safely?"  asked  Garfield ;  "  they  tell  me  in  winter 
the  slope  is  a  sheet  of  ice  with  three  feet  of  snow 
on  the  summit." 

"Wall,"  said  the  old  man;  "  ye'll  hev  to  make 
yer  own  path  most  likely,  but  it's  worth  yer 
trouble  if  ye  can  only  ketch  that  nest  o'  murderin' 
thieves  as  is  pesterin'  the  hull  country  !  " 

Garfield  looked  steadily  into  the  old  man's  face 
with  that  peculiar  searching  glance  of  his,  and  then 
said,  — 

"  We  will  do  it  to-morrow,  and  you  shall  be 
our  guide." 

The  snow  was  falling  in  blinding  drifts  next 
morning  when  they  commenced  their  ascent.  The 


108  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

ridge  rises  to  a  height  of  two  thousand  feet  above 
the  valley  at  this  point,  and  sudden  precipices 
yawn  on  every  side.  A  single  misstep  is  certain 
death  ;  and  slowly,  cautiously  the  little  band  follow 
their  weird-looking  guide  up  the  icy  slope. 

At  length  the  old  man  turns  suddenly  to  Gar- 
field,  saying, — 

K  The  rebels  are  just  a  half  mile  from  here ; 
press  on  at  the  double  and  ye  hev  'eni !  " 

A  firing  from  the  picket-guard  greets  them,  and 
the  enemy  call  together  all  their  forces  to  resist 
the  intruders. 

But  Garfield  and  his  men  are  equal  to  the 
occasion. 

"Press  forward,  scale  the  hill,  and  carry  it  with 
the  bayonet ! "  cries  the  Union  commander,  and 
with  loud  cheers  the  order  is  obeyed. 

Little  by  little,  the  rebels  fall  back  into  the 
forest.  The  undaunted  band  follow  with  gleaming 
weapons,  and  before  night  are  comfortably  estab 
lished  in  the  enemy's  quarters.  Next  morning,  they 
burn  the  long  huts,  some  sixty  in  number,  destroy 
the  breastworks,  and  set  out  for  their  own  camp  at 
Piketon.  A  week  later,  the  order  comes  to  march 
to  Louisville,  and  the  campaign  on  the  Big  Sandy 
comes  to  a  successful  close. 

Kentucky  is  thoroughly  rid  of  the  rebel  hordes, 
and  General  Buell  is  so  delighted  that  he  sends  to 
Garfield  the  following  message  :  — 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD.  109 

M  The  general  commanding  takes  occasion  to 
thank  General  Garfield  and  his  troops  for  their 
successful  campaign  against  the  rebel  force  under 
General  Marshall,  on  the  Big  Sandy,  and  their 
gallant  conduct  in  battle.  They  have  overcome 
formidable  difficulties  in  the  character  of  country, 
conditions  of  the  roads  and  the  inclemency  of  the 
season,  and,  without  artillery,  have  in  several 
engagements,  terminating  in  the  battle  of  Middle 
Creek,  on  the  10th  inst.,  driven  him  back  into  the 
mountains,  with  a  loss  of  a  large  amount  of  bag 
gage  and  stores,  and  many  of  his  men  killed  or 
captured.  These  services  have  called  into  action 
the  highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  —  fortitude,  per 
severance  and  courage." 

President  Lincoln,  to  whom  the  news  of  "  Middle 
Creek "  had  come  like  a  benediction  in  his  dis 
couragement,  immediately  appointed  Colonel  Gar- 
field  a  Brigadier-General. 


110  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Garfield  takes  Command  of  the  Twentieth  Brigade.  — Battles  of  Shiloh 
and  Corinth. —  The  fugitive  Slave.  —  Attack  of  Malaria. —Home 
Furlough.  —  Summoned  to  Washington.  —  Death  of  his  Child. 
—  Ordered  to  Join  General  Rosecrans.  —  Kirke's  description  of 
Garfield. 

WHEN  Garfield  reached  Louisville  he  found  that 
General  Buell  had  hastened  on  to  the  assistance  of 
Grant,  who  was  then  at  Pittsburg  Landing.  Over 
taking  General  Buell  at  Columbia,  Tennessee,  he 
was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  Twentieth 
Brigade,  and  in  the  famous  battle  of  Shiloh  won 
new  laurels. 

In  the  long  and  wearisome  siege  of  Corinth, 
Garfield's  brigade  did  signal  service ;  and  in  June, 
1862,  they  were  sent  to  repair  and  protect  the 
Memphis  and  Charleston  railroad.  Here,  as  well 
as  at  Huntsville,  Alabama,  Garfield's  old  skill  at 
carpentry  came  into  play ;  and  he  gained  no  small 
renown  for  his  fine  military  engineering. 

It  was  while  in  the  command  of  this  brigade  that 
a  fugitive  slave  came  running  into  his  camp,  badly 
wounded  and  terribly  frightened.  A  few  minutes 
after,  his  master  came  riding  up,  and,  with  a 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD.  Ill 

volley  of  oaths,  demanded  his  "property."  Gar- 
field  was  not  present,  so  he  passed  on  to  the  division 
commander.  This  man  was  a  believer  in  the  theory 
that  fugitive  slaves  should  be  returned  to  their 
masters,  and  that  the  Union  soldiers  should  see 
that  this  was  done.  He  accordingly  wrote  a  per 
emptory  order  to  General  Garfield,  in  whose  com 
mand  the  slave  was  thought  to  be  hidden,  telling 
him  to  hunt  out  the  fugitive  and  deliver  him  over 
to  his  master. 

General  Garfield  took  the  order  and  quietly 
wrote  on  the  back  of  it, — 

"I  respectfully,  but  positively,  decline  to  al 
low  my  command  to  search  for,  or  deliver  up 
any  fugitive  slaves.  I  conceive  that  they  are 
here  for  quite  another  purpose.  The  command 
is  open,  and  no  obstacles  will  be  placed  in 
the  way  of  search."  When  reminded  by  one 
of  his  staff-officers  that  these  rash  words  might 

o 

bring  him  up  before  a  court-martial,  he  re 
plied,  — 

"  The  matter  may  as  well  be  tested  first  as  last. 
Right  is  right,  and  I  do  not  propose  to  mince 
matters  at  all.  My  soldiers  are  here  for  other 
purposes  than  hunting  and  returning  fugitive 
slaves.  My  people,  on  the  Western  Reserve  of 
Ohio,  did  not  send  my  boys  and  myself  down  here 
to  do  that  kind  of  business,  and  they  will  back  me 
up  in  my  action." 


112  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  order  was  returned  with  the  indorsement 
unchanged,  and  nothing  more  was  said  about  it. 

The  exposures  of  the  past  year,  together  with 
the  malarial  atmosphere  of  the  South,  began  at 
last  to  tell  upon  the  strong  physique  of  the  young 
commander,  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  a  few 
weeks'  furlough.  He  had  hardly  started  for  home 
however,  when  the  secretary  of  war,  who  had  now 
learned  his  rare  qualities,  issued  orders  for  him 
to  relieve  General  Morgan  of  his  command  at 
Cumberland  Gap. 

Garfield  was  too  sick  to  obey,  and,  a  month  later 
the  secretary  desired  him  to  report  in  person  at 
Washington,  as  soon  as  his  health  would  allow. 
A  new  honor  awaited  him  here,  for  so  high  an 
estimate  had  been  placed  upon  his  judgment  and 
his  technical  knowledge  of  law  that  he  had  been 
chosen  one  of  the  first  members  in  the  court-mar 
tial  of  Fitz  John  Porter. 

While  at  Washington,  he  was  called  home  by 
the  sickness  and  death  of  his  eldest  child,  the 
"Little  Trot,"  whose  simple  headstone  in  the 
cemetery  at  Hiram  bears  the  touching  inscrip 
tion,  — 

"  She  has  gained  the  crown  without  the  cross." 

In  the  following  January,  Garfield  was  ordered 
to  join  General  Rosecrans,  then  in  command  of  the 
Army  of  the  Cumberland.  It  is  said  that  Kose- 
crans  was  somewhat  prejudiced  against  Garfield 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  113 

because  he  had  heard  of  him  as  a  preacher  who 
had  taken  up  politics.  A  few  days'  acquaintance 
however,  so  thoroughly  changed  the  General's 
opinion,  that  he  gave  Garfield  the  choice  of  joining 
his  staff  or  commanding  a  brigade.  He  chose  the 
former,  and  Rosecrans,  writing  of  him,  said,  — 

M I  found  him  to  be  a  competent  and  efficient 
officer,  an  earnest  and  devoted  patriot,  and  a  man 
of  the  highest  honor." 

It  is  interesting  to  read  just  here  Edmund 
Kirke's  graphic  picture  of  Garfield,  "Down  in 
Tennessee,"  which  was  written  in  1863. 

"  In  a  corner  by  the  window,  seated  at  a  small 
pine  desk  —  a  sort  of  packing-box  perched  on  a 
long-legged  stool,  and  divided  into  pigeon-holes, 
with  a  turn-down  lid,  was  a  tall,  deep-chested, 
sinewy-built  man,  with  regular,  massive  features, 
a  full,  clear  blue  eye,  and  a  high  broad  forehead, 
rising  into  a  ridge  over  the  eyes,  as  if  it  had  been 
thrown  up  by  a  plough.  There  was  something 
singularly  engaging  in  his  open  expressive  face, 
and  his  whole  appearance  indicated  great  reserve 
power.  His  uniform,  though  cleanly  brushed 
and  sitting  easily  upon  him,  had  a  sort  of  demo 
cratic  air,  and  everything  about  him  seemed  to  de 
note  that  he  was  a  man  of  the  people.  A  rusty 
slouched  hat,  large  enough  to  have  fitted  Daniel 
Webster,  lay  on  the  desk  before  him  ;  but  a  glance 
at  that  was  not  needed  to  convince  me  that  his 


114  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES    OP 

head  held  more  than  the  common  share  of  brains. 
Though  he  is  yet  young  —  not  thirty-three  — 
the  reader  has  heard  of  him,  and  if  he  lives  he 
will  make  his  name  long  remembered  in  our  his- 
tory." 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  115 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Rosecrans  Quarrels  with  the  War  Department. —  Garfiekl  as  Mediator. 
—  Remarkable  Military  Document. —  The  Tullahoma  Campaign. — 
Insurrection  averted.  — Chattanooga.  —  Battle  of  Chickainauga. — 
Brave  Defence  of  Gen.  Thomas.  —  Garfield's  Famous  Ride. 

JUST  at  the  time  Garfield  succeeded  Garesche  as 
Rosecrans'  chief-of-staff,  that  officer  was  having  a 
series  of  bickerings  with  the  War  Department. 
In  his  demands  for  more  cavalry  and  arms,  Gar- 
field  fully  sympathized,  but  his  unreasonable  re 
quests,  oftentimes  couched  in  the  most  exasperat 
ing  language,  the  new  chief  endeavored  to  modify 
or  repress. 

From  January  until  June,  Rosecrans'  army  had 
lain  idle  at  Murfreesboro'.  With  the  opening  of 
spring  the  War  Department  urged  him  to  advance. 
Grant  had  begun  his  campaign  against  Vicksburg ; 
and  Halleck  declared  that  unless  Rosecrans  made 
some  decided  movement,  the  rebel  General,  Bragg, 
would  send  a  part  of  his  force  to  aid  Pemberton 
at  Vicksburg. 

General  Rosecrans,  however,  still  delayed ;  he 
waited  for  reinforcements,  for  the  roads  to  be  in 
better  condition,  for  the  corn  to  ripen.  It  was 


116  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

better  to  keep  quiet,  he  said,  while  Grant  was  at 
Vicksburg,  for  should  that  General  happen  to  fail, 
all  the  rebels  of  tlie  surrounding  section,  as  well  as 
those  under  General  Johnston,  wTould  confront  him. 

At  first,  Garfield  approved  of  Rosecrans'  delay, 
but  as  soon  as  his  army  was  thoroughly  reinforced 
with  men  and  supplies,  he  urged  him  to  make  an  ad 
vance.  Through  the  secret  service  system  which  he 
had  established  since  Jordan's  wonderful  expedi 
tion,  Garfield  discovered  that  Bragg's  army  was 
greatly  reduced,  and  he  felt  assured  that  the  time 
had  come  for  a  decisive  blow.  At  last,  General 
Rosecrans  sent  a  formal  letter  to  his  corps,  division, 
and  cavalry  generals  asking  their  opinion  concern 
ing  the  feasibility  and  wisdom  of  such  a  movement. 
Not  one  of  the  seventeen  generals  was  in  favor  of 
an  immediate  or  even  an  early  advance. 

Garfield  took  the  answers  sent  in  from  the  gen 
erals,  and  in  one  of  the  ablest  military  documents 
on  record,*  he  refuted  every  objection  raised, 
and  added  therewith  such  powerful  arguments  in 
favor  of  an  immediate  advance,  that  General 
Rosecrans  was  convinced.  Twelve  days  later,  the 
army  moved,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  the  other 
officers,  who  declared  it  was  a  rash  and  fatal  step 
for  which  Garfield  alone  should  be  held  responsible. 

It  was  the  opening  of  the  famous  Tullahoma 
campaign  —  a  campaign  remarkable  throughout  for 

*  For  document  in  full,  see  Addenda  I. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  117 

its  fine  conception  and  able  execution.  Bragg's 
army  would  have  been  utterly  destroyed  had  the 
advance  been  made  a  few  days  earlier ;  as  it  was, 
the  rebel  forces  were  finally  driven  south  of  the 
Tennessee,  a  thousand  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  prisoners  were  captured,  together  with  con 
siderable  ammunition,  and  the  state  of  Tennessee 
was  again  under  the  flag  of  the  Union. 

Almost  on  the  boundary  line  between  Tennessee 
and  Georgia  stands  the  village  of  Chattanooga. 
It  is  on  the  southern  bank  of  the  Tennessee  river, 
and  to  the  north  Lookout  Mountain  rises  almost 
perpendicularly  to  a  height  of  twenty-four  hundred 
feet.  Missionary  Ridge,  which  is  a  much  lower 
elevation,  lies  upon  the  eastern  side,  and  along  its 
base  flows  the  West  Chickamauga  Creek  that 
empties  into  the  Tennessee  just  at  Chattanooga. 
On  the  opposite  side  is  Pigeon  Mountain. 

The  Tullahoma  campaign  had  forced  Bragg  and 
his  remaining  troops  across  the  Tennessee,  and  they 
were  now  posted  all  along  the  southern  bank  of  the 
stream  from  Chattanooga  far  down  toward  Atlanta. 

Rosecrans'  army  had  encamped  themselves  on 
the  west  with  a  line  of  fortifications  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long,  while  General  Burnside  had 
moved  into  Eastern  Tennessee,  and  taken  posses 
sion  of  Knoxville.  The  great  problem  now  was 
how  to  force  Bragg  from  his  position  at  Chatta- 


118  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Rosecrans  received  a 
letter,  in  which  a  plan  for  arming  the  negroes  and 
sending  them  throughout  the  slave  states,  was  pro 
posed. 

"  It  would  doubtless  end  the  rebellion  at  once," 
said  one  of  Rosecrans'  officers ;  "  and  the  letter 
says  that  no  blood  would  be  shed  except  in  self- 
defence." 

"But,  think  what  vengeance  the  blacks  might 
take,  if  suddenly  let  loose  upon  their  masters  ! " 
exclaimed  Rosecrans.  "  I  must  talk  the  matter 
over  with  Garfield." 

After  a  careful  reading  of  the  letter,  the  chief- 
of-staff  said,  quietly,  but  firmly, — 

"It  will  never  do,  General.  We  don't  want  to 
whip  by  such  means.  If  the  slaves,  of  their  own 
accord,  rise  and  assert  their  original  right  to  them 
selves,  that  will  be  their  own  affair ;  but  we  can 
have  no  complicity  with  them  without  outraging 
the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized  world." 

"  But  what  if  the  other  departments  should  en 
courage  these  uprisings  ?  " 

"We  must  do  all  in  our  power  to  prevent  them," 
exclaimed  Garfield. 

Rosecrans,  whose  confidence  in  his  chief-of-staff 
was  daily  increasing,  immediately  took  measures 
to  stop  the  movement,  and  the  insurrection,  with 
all  its  attendant  horrors,  was  averted. 

To  Garfield  was  now  submitted  the  task  of  plan- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  119 

ning  some  movement  which  would  oblige  Bragg  to 
leave  Chattanooga.  General  Halleck,  then  in 
Washington  at  the  head  of  the  War  Department, 
had  sent  to  Rosecrans  the  following  telegram, — 

"The  orders  for  the  advance  of  your  army  are  per 
emptory." 

The  only  movement  that  could  be  made  with  any 
advantage  at  this  time,  would  be  for  the  Union 
army  to  cross  the  river  in  three  divisions  and  cut 
off  Bragg  from  all  communication  with  Atlanta, 
whence  he  was  expecting  supplies  and  reinforce 
ments. 

Pontoons  were,  therefore,  brought  forward,  and 
materials  prepared  for  building  a  couple  of  bridges. 
This  was  done  with  all  possible  secrecy,  but  high 
up  on  Lookout  Mountain  the  signal  corps  of 
Bragg's  army,  with  their  field-glasses,  were  stealth 
ily  watching,  and  promptly  reporting  every  move 
ment. 

The  Confederates  readily  yielded  their  post  at 
Chattanooga,  but  it  was  only  to  give  the  appear 
ance  of  a  retreat.  In  reality,  they  were  concen 
trating  all  their  forces  along  the  banks  of  the 
Chickamauga,  and  already  their  troops  outnum 
bered  Rosecrans'  by  several  thousands.  Bragg's 
plan  was  to  cross  the  Chickamauga  at  the  various 
bridges  and  fords,  push  across  Missionary  Ridge 
to  Rossville,  and  then,  closing  in  upon  Rosecrans' 


120  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

army,  completely  destroy  it  by  the  force  of  his 
superior  numbers. 

Garfield,  by  means  of  his  secret  service  system, 
had  discovered  this  plan  of  the  rebel  commander, 
and  apprized  Rosecrans,  who  was  now  on  the  alert 
and  confronting  Bragg's  troops  at  every  feasible 
point  of  the  road. 

"  The  resistance  offered  by  the  enemy's  cavalry," 
writes  the  Confederate  general,  "as  well  as  the 
difficulties  arising  from  the  bad  and  narrow  coun 
try  roads,  caused  unexpected  delays." 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  September,  the 
battle  began  on  the  banks  of  the  Chickamauga  be 
tween  Pigeon  Mountain  and  Missionary  Ridge.  It 
raged  fiercely  all  day,  and  wrhen  night  closed  down 
upon  the  contending  armies,  the  contest  was  still 
undecided. 

Bragg's  army  had  been  reinforced  by  a  large 
detachment  under  General  Longstreet,  and  Mc- 
Lawes'  division  was  expected  every  moment.  The 
prospect  seemed  very  dark  to  the  Union  army, 
whose  scattered  troops  numbered  at  most  but 
sixty  thousand,  and  whose  supplies  were  cut  off  in 
all  directions.  They  still  held,  however,  the  road 
to  Rossville,  the  one  especial  point  for  which  Bragg 
had  been  fighting. 

It  was  a  fortunate  turn  of  affairs  that  gave  to 
General  Thomas  the  command  of  the  left  wing  of 
Rosecrans'  army.  Here  it  was  that  the  brunt  of 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  121 

the  battle  came,  on  the  second  day  at  Chick- 
amauga  ;  and,  through  the  whole  fearful  struggle, 
the  brave  general  and  his  devoted  troops  showed 
the  same  invincible  spirit  that  had  won  laurels  for 
them  in  the  victories  of  Mill  Spring,  Pittsburg 
Landing,  and  Stone  River. 

Garfield,  as  chief-of- staff,  kept  his  place  by 
Rosecrans'  side  until,  at  a  critical  point  in  the 
battle,  he  turned  to  his  commanding  officer,  and 
said,  — 

"General,  I  ask  permission  to  return  and  join 
General  Thomas."  Consent  was  reluctantly  grant 
ed,  for,  although  it  was  necessary  to  inform  Gen 
eral  Thomas  of  the  condition  of  affairs,  Rosecrans 
knew  that  Garfield  was  undertaking  a  fearful  risk. 

"As  you  will,"  he  said,  at  last;  "God  bless 
you  ;  we  may  not  meet  again.  Good-bye  !  " 

With  the  brave  Captain  Gaw  as  his  guide,  and 
two  orderlies,  Garfield  sets  out  on  his  famous  ride. 
There  are  eight  miles  to  be  crossed  before  they  can 
reach  Thomas ;  they  ride  swiftly  and  securely 
through  the  neighboring  forest,  but  as  they  emerge 
from  the  narrow  road  at  Rossville  Gap,  a  shower 
of  bullets  falls  about  them.  Longstreet's  skirmish 
ers  and  sharp-shooters  have  surrounded  them,  and 
the  two  orderlies  fall  from  their  horses,  mortally 
wounded. 

Garfield  spurs  on  his  magnificent  charger,  leaps 
a  fence,  and  finds  himself  in  an  open  field,  white 


122  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

with  ripening  cotton.  Only  a  slight  ridge  now 
divides  him  from  the  outposts  of  Thomas's  division, 
but,  as  he  makes  a  zig-zag  ascent  up  the  slope,  the 
gray-coats  send  volley  after  volley  of  whizzing 
bullets,  and  suddenly  his  horse  is  struck  beneath 
him.  It  is  only  a  flesh  wound,  however,  and  the 
fiery  creature  is  urged  forward  with  still  greater 
impetuosity. 

Another  second,  and  the  crest  of  the  hill  is 
gained  Horse  and  rider  gallop  down  the  other  side 
and  a  band  of  mounted  blue-coats  surround  them. 

"  Good  God,  Garfield  ! "  cries  General  McCook, 
"I  thought  you  were  killed.  How  you  have 
escaped  is  a  miracle." 

Though  twice  wounded,  Garfield's  horse  plunges 
on,  through  tangled  under-brush,  over  fences,  up 
hill  and  down,  until  the  remaining  four  miles  are 
accomplished.  Then,  passing  through  another 
shower  of  shot  and  shell,  Garfield  catches  a  glimpse 
of  Thomas. 

"  There  he  is  !  "  he  shouts,  "  God  bless  the  old 
hero  !  he  has  saved  the  army  ! " 

In  five  minutes  more,  Garfield  is  by  the  side  of 
Thomas ;  the  perilous  ride  is  safely  over,  the  mes 
sage  is  delivered.  But  look  !  the  noble  horse  is 
staggering,  and  now  it  drops  down  dead  at  the  feet 
of  General  Thomas. 

A  half  hour  longer  the  battle  raged  desper 
ately,  and  then  with  a  sudden  break  in  their 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  123 

lines  the  rebels  abandoned  the  fight  and  began 
to  retreat. 

Garfield  sat  down  behind  a  dead  tree  and  wrote  a 
dispatch  to  General  Rosecrans.  In  the  midst  of 
the  heaviest  firing,  a  white  dove  was  seen  to  hover 
around  for  several  minutes,  and  then  to  settle  down 
on  the  top  of  the  tree  above  Garfield's  head. 

"  A  good  omen  of  peace  ! "  exclaimed  General 
Wood,  who  was  standing  close  by.  Garfield  said 
nothing,  but  kept  on  with  his  writing. 

At  seven  o'clock  that  evening,  a  battery  of  six 
Napoleon  guns,  by  order  of  Generals  Granger  and 
Garfield,  thundered  after  the  retreating  rebels. 

The  battle  of  Chickamauga  was  ended ;  the 
Union  army  had  won  the  day. 

"Again,  O  fair  September  night! 

Beneath  the  moon  and  stars, 
I  see,  through  memories  dark  and  bright, 

The  altar-fires  of  Mars. 
The  morning  breaks  with  screaming  guns 

From  batteries  dark  and  dire, 
And  where  the  Chickamauga  runs 

Red  runs  the  muskets'  fire. 

"  I  see  bold  Longstreet's  darkening  host 

Sweep  through  our  lines  of  flame, 
And  hear  again,  'The  right  is  lost! ' 

Swart  Rosecrans  exclaim ! 
*  But  not  the  left,'  young  Garfield  crief : 

'  From  that  we  must  not  sever, 
While  Thomas  holds  the  field  that  lies 

On  Chickamaufira  River.' 


124  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  Through  tongues  of  flame,  through  meadows  brown, 

Dry  valley  roads  concealed, 
Ohio's  hero  dashes  down 

Upon  the  rebel  field. 
And  swift,  on  reeling  charger  borne, 

He  threads  the  wooded  plain, 
By  twice  a  hundred  cannon  mown, 

And  reddened  with  the  slain. 

"  But  past  the  swathes  of  carnage  dire, 

The  Union  guns  he  hears, 
And  gains  the  left,  begirt  with  fire, 

And  thus  the  heroes  cheers  :  — 
'While  stands  the  left,  yon  flag  overhead, 

Shall  Chattanooga  stand ! ' 
'  Let  the  Napoleons  rain  their  lead ! ' 

Was  Thomas's  command. 

"  Back  swept  the  gray  brigades  of  Bragg; 

The  air  with  victory  rung; 
And  Wurzel's  '  Rally  round  the  flag! 1 

'Mid  Union  cheers  was  sung. 
The  flag  on  Chattanooga's  height 

In  twilight's  crimson  waved, 
And  all  the  clustered  stars  of  white 

Were  to  the  Union  saved, 

"  O  Chief-of-staff  !  the  nation's  fate. 

That  red  field  crossed  with  thee, 
The  triumph  of  the  camp  and  state, 

The  hope  of  liberty ! 
O  Nation !  free  from  sea  to  sea, 

With  union  blessed  forever, 
Not  vainly  heroes  fought  for  thee 

By  Chickamauga's  River." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  125 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Rosecrans'  Official  Report.  —  Sixteen  Years  Later.  —  Promotion  to 
Major-General.  —  Elected  to  Congress. — Resigns  his  Commission 
in  the  Army.  —  Endowed  by  Nature  and  Education  for  a  Public 
Speaker. — Moral  Character.  —  Youngest  Member  of  House  of 
Representatives.  —  One  Secret  of  Success  — First  Speech.  —  Wade- 
Davis  Manifesto.  —  Extracts  from  various  Speeches. 

GENERAL  ROSECRANS,  in  his  official  report  of  the 
battles  of  Chickamauga,  writes,  — 

"To  Brigadier-General  James  A.  Garfield, 
chief-of-staflf,  I  am  especially  indebted  for  the 
clear  and  ready  manner  in  which  he  seized  the 
points  of  action  and  movement,  and  expressed  in 
order  the  ideas  of  the  general  commanding." 

To  this  meed  of  praise  General  Wood  adds,  — 

•"  It  affords  me  much  pleasure  to  signalize  the 
presence  with  my  command,  for  a  length  of  time 
during  the  afternoon  (present  during  the  period 
of  hottest  fighting),  of  another  distinguished  offi 
cer,  Brigadier-General  James  A.  Garfield,  chief- 
of-staff.  After  the  disastrous  rout  on  the  right, 
General  Garfield  made  his  way  back  to  the  battle 
field  (showing  clearly  that  the  road  was  open  to  all 
who  might  choose  to  follow  it) ,  and  came  to  where 
my  command  was  engaged.  The  brigade  which 


126  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

made  so  determined  a  resistance  on  the  crest  of 
the  narrow  ridge  during  all  the  long  September 
afternoon,  had  been  commanded  by  General  Gar- 
field  when  he  belonged  to  my  division.  The  men 
remarked  his  presence  with  much  satisfaction,  and 
were  delighted  that  he  was  a  witness  of  the  splen' 
did  fighting  they  were  doing." 

In  connection  with  these  reports,  it  is  interesting 
to  recall  Garfield's  address  to  his  comrades,  six 
teen  years  later,  when  some  twelve  hundred  of  the 
veteran  volunteers  of  Ohio  visited  him  at  his  home 
in  Mentor.  In  response  to  an  address  of  General 
M.  D.  Leggett,  he  said,  in  his  hearty,  friendly 
way,  — 

"  Any  man  that  can  see  twelve  hundred  com 
rades  in  the  front  door-yard  has  as  much  reason  to 
be  proud  as  for  anything  that  can  well  happen  to 
him  in  this  world.  To  see  twelve  hundred  men 
from  almost  every  regiment  of  the  state,  to  see  a 
consolidated  field  report  of  survivors  of  the  war 
sixteen  years  after  it  is  over,  is  a  great  sight  for 
any  man  to  look  on.  I  greet  you  all  with  grati 
tude  for  this  visit.  Its  personal  compliment  is 
great,  but  there  is  another  thought  in  it  far  greater 
than  that  to  me,  and  greater  to  you. 

"  Just  over  yonder,  about  ten  miles,  when  I  was 
a  mere  lad,  I  heard  the  finest  political  speech  of 
my  life.  It  was  a  speech  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings. 
He  had  come  home  to  appeal  to  his  constituents. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  127 

A  Southern  man  drew  a  pistol  on  him  while  he 
was  speaking  in  favor  of  human  liberty,  and 
marched  over  to  him  to  shoot  him  down,  to  stop 
his  speech  and  quench  the  voice  of  liberty. 

"  I  remember  but  one  thing  the  old  hero  said  in 
the  course  of  that  speech  so  long  ago,  and  it  was 
this,  — 

"  '  I  knew  I  was  speaking  for  liberty,  and  I  felt 
that  if  an  assassin  shot  me  down,  my  speech  would 
still  go  on  and  triumph.' 

"  Well,  now,  these  twelve  hundred,  and  the  one 
hundred  times  twelve  hundred,  and  the  one  million 
of  men  that  went  out  into  the  field  of  battle  to 
fight  for  our  Union,  feel  as  that  speaker  felt,  that 
if  they  should  all  be  shot  down  the  cause  of  liberty 
would  still  go  on. 

"You  all,  and  the  Union,  felt  that  around  you, 
and  above  you,  and  behind  you,  was  a  force  and 
a  cause  and  an  immortal  truth  that  would  outlive 
your  bodies  and  mine,  and  survive  all  our  brigades, 
and  all  our  armies,  and  all  our  battles. 

"Here  you  are  to-day  ;  in  the  same  belief  we 
shall  die ;  and  yet  we  believe  that  after  us  the 
immortal  truth  for  which  we  fought  will  live  in  a 
united  nation,  a  united  people,  against  all  factions, 
against  all  sections,  against  all  divisions,  so  long 
as  there  shall  be  a  continent  of  rivers,  and  moun 
tains,  and  lakes. 

"  It  was  this  great  belief  that  lifted  you  all  up 


128  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

into  the  heroic  height  of  great  soldiers  in  war  ;  and 
it  is  my  belief  that  you  cherish  it  to-day,  and 
carry  it  with  you  in  all  your  pilgrimages  and  in 
all  your  reunions.  In  that  great  belief  and  in  that 
inspiring  faith,  I  meet  you  and  greet  you  to-day, 
and  with  it  we  will  go  on  to  whatever  fate  has  in 
store  for  us" 

Ah !  how  little  the  devoted  band  of  comrades 
dreamed  that  bright  October  morning,  with  what 
a  new  and  solemn  meaning  before  another  twelve 
months  those  earnest  words  would  come  back  to 
them ! 

Four  weeks  after  the  battle  of  Chickamauga, 
General  Rosecrans  sent  Garfield  on  to  Washington 
to  report  minutely  to  the  War  Department  and  to 
the  President,  the  position,  deeds,  resources,  etc., 
of  the  army  at  Chattanooga.  In  the  mean  time 
he  had  received  the  promotion  of  major-general 
"  for  gallant  and  meritorious  services  at  the  battle 
of  Chickamauga  ;  "  and  during  the  year  previous, 
the  Nineteenth  Congressional  District  of  Ohio  had 
elected  him  as  their  representative  to  the  Thirty- 
Eighth  Congress. 

Garfield's  whole  heart  and  soul  were  with  the 
army,  he  would  have  preferred  to  serve  his  country 
on  the  field  rather  than  in  the  halls  of  state ;  but 
when  he  expressed  his  desire  to  President  Lincoln, 
the  latter  urged  him  to  resign  his  commission  and 
come  to  Congress.  There  were  plenty  of  major- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  129 

generals,  he  said,  but  able  statesmen  —  like  angels' 
visits — were  few  and  far  between. 

It  was  universally  believed,  at  this  time,  that  the 
war  was  drawing  to  a  close ;  and  still  another  con 
sideration  that  influenced  Garfield  in  his  decision 
was  the  fact  that  a  voice  in  military  legislation 
might  be  of  great  assistance  to  his  comrades  in 
arms.  So,  on  the  5th  of  December,  1863,  after 
three  years  of  military  life,  he  resigned  his  army 
commission  with  its  high  emoluments,  for  the  poor 
pay  and  arduous  work  of  a  Congressman. 

It  is  a  little  singular  that  he  should  have  filled 
in  Congress  the  very  seat  left  vacant  by  the  death 
of  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  his  boyhood's  hero.  Did 
the  mantle  of  this  brave  Elijah  fall  upon  him,  too, 
I  wonder? 

Upon  his  arrival  at  Washington,  Garfield,  with 
his  characteristic  energy  and  perseverance,  began 
a  thorough  course  of  study  upon  all  topics  with 
which  he  might  have  to  deal,  giving  especial  at 
tention  to  commerce,  manufactures,  finance,  the 
tariff,  taxation,  and  international  law.  Every  spare 
moment  was  turned  to  the  best  account ;  an  intimate 
friend  says  he  was  seldom  seen  without  a  book 
in  his  hand,  or  in  his  pocket. 

Both  by  nature  and  education,  Garfield  seemed 
specially  endowed  for  the  office  of  a  public  speaker. 
He  had  a  ready  flow  of  language  that  practice 
in  debating  clubs,  the  teacher's  desk,  at  the  bar, 


130  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

and  in  the  pulpit  had  rendered  apt,  pointed,  and 
polished.  His  tall,  massive  figure,  powerful  voice, 
and  dignified  manner  gave  additional  weight  to 
every  word  that  fell  from  his  lips,  while  his  fine 
scholarship,  extensive  reading  and  wonderful 
memory  furnished  an  inexhaustible  "  reserve  fund  " 
of  illustration  and  imagery.  But  above  all  and 
through  -all,  was  the  vatal  power  of  a  warm, 
sympathetic,  generous  heart. 

"His  moral  character,"  writes  President  Hins- 
dale,  "  was  the  fit  crown  to  his  physical  and  intel 
lectual  nature.  No  man  had  a  kinder  heart  or  a 
purer  mind.  Naturally,  and  without  conscious 
plan  or  effort,  he  drew  men  to  him  as  the  magnet 
the  iron  filings." 

He  had  been  the  youngest  man  in  the  Ohio 
senate,  the  youngest  brigadier-general,  and  now, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  he  was  found  to  be  the 
youngest  member  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives.  To  make  his  mark  among  so  many  brilliant 
intellects,  so  many  fine  orators,  so  many  old  and 
well-tried  statesmen,  as  graced  the  legislation  halls 
of  the  nation  at  that  critical  period  of  our  history, 
required  in  the  young  and  then  almost  unknown 
congressman  "a  peculiar  combination  of  strong 
talents  and  intellectual  acuteness." 

One  secret  of  his  success  lay  in  his  "  genius  for 
hard  work."  He  was  not  one  to  take  ideas  at 
second-hand ;  he  was  never  satisfied  until  he  had 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  131 

sifted  the  subject  in  hand  to  the  very  bottom,  and 
when  once  assured  of  the  truth  and  right  of  any 
matter,  no  power  on  earth  could  move  him. 

"Comparatively  few  men  or  women,"  he  said 
one  day  to  a  friend,  "  take  the  trouble  to  think  for 
themselves.  Most  people  frame  their  opinions 
from  what  they  read  or  hear  others  say.  I  noticed 
this  in  early  life,  but  never  saw  the  evil  of  it  until 
I  went  to  Congress." 

From  the  very  first,  Garfield  made  his  influence 
felt  in  the  Hall  of  Representatives.  He  was  strong 
enough  to  break  over  the  bars  that  usually  restrict 
the  new  and  younger  members  of  Congress,  and 
soon  took  up  the  gauntlet  with  debaters  like 
Thaddeus  Stevens,  N.  P.  Banks,  Roscoe  Conkling, 
and  other  old  leaders  in  the  legislative  halls. 

It  was  a  tumultuous  period  in  our  national 
history ;  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  had  brought  to 
the  surface  many  questions  of  debate  that  required 
the  utmost  thought  and  deliberation,  and  upon 
whose  decision  hung  the  weightiest  of  results. 

But  Garfield  as  some  able  writer  says,  was  "a 
man  who  was  always  equal  to  the  greatest  oppor 
tunity  ;  often  surpassed  it.  He  was  great  on  great 
occasions,  because  in  temperament,  intelligence, 
enthusiasm,  and  eloquence,  he  rose,  like  air,  to 
its  highest  limit." 

The  first  speech  he  delivered  of  any  length,  was 
on  January  28th,  1864,  and  was  a  reply  to  his 


132      TlFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

Democratic  colleague,  Mr.  Finck.  It  was  in  favor 
of  the  confiscation  of  rebel  property,  and  the  fol 
lowing  passage  will  give  an  idea  of  his  style  of 
argument  in  those  early  days  :  — 

"The  war  was  announced  by  proclamation,  and 
it  must  end  by  proclamation.  We  can  hold  the 
insurgent  states  in  military  subjection  half  a  cen 
tury —  if  need  be,  until  they  are  purged  of  their 
poison  and  stand  up  clean  before  the  country. 
They  must  come  back  with  clean  hands,  if  they 
come  at  all.  I  hope  to  see  in  all  those  states  the 
men  who  fought  and  suffered  for  the  truth  >  till 
ing  the  fields  on  which  they  pitched  their  tents.  I 
hope  to  see  them,  like  old  Kaspar  of  Blenheim,  on 
the  summer  evenings,  with  their  children  upon 
their  knees,  and  pointing  out  the  spot  where  brave 
men  fell  and  marble  commemorates  it." 

His  answer  to  Mr.  Long,  in  the  campaign  of 
1864,  when  McClellan  was  proposed  as  the  Demo 
cratic  candidate,  will  never  be  forgotten.  It  was 
delivered  on  the  impulse  of  the  moment  and  ex 
cited  the  wildest  applause  throughout  the  House. 
The  older  members  began  to  realize  what  a  grow 
ing  power  they  had  in  their  midst,  and  were  not 
slow  to  seek  Garfield's  assistance  when  they  had 
some  pet  measure  to  bring  forward. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  holding  the  Congres 
sional  Convention  of  1864,  in  the  Nineteenth  Dis 
trict,  a  report  was  circulated  in  the  Western  Re- 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  133 

serve,  that  Garfield  was  the  author  of  the  famous 
Wade-Davis  manifesto. 

The  convention  wished  to  nominate  him,  hut 
hesitated.  Would  he  not  come  forward  and  ex 
plain  himself? 

Now  this  was  just  what  Garfield  was  longing  to 
do.  With  a  firm  step  he  walked  up  to  the  plat 
form  and  in  a  brief,  trenchant  speech,  declared 
that  although  he  had  not  written  the  Wade-Davis 
letter,  he  was  in  sympathy  with  the  authors.  If 
the  Nineteenth  District  did  not  want  a  representa 
tive  who  would  assert  his  independence  of  thought 
and  action,  it  must  find  another  man.  Having 
stated  his  conviction  of  the  truth  in  the  plainest, 
strongest  terms,  he  came  down  from  the  platform 
and  quietly  left  the  hall.  A  great  noise  from  the 
building  greeted  his  ears  as  he  turned  the  street- 
corner.  He  thought  they  were  having  an  indig 
nation  meeting,  and  he  fully  expected  to  be 
apprized  of  his  rejection. 

To  his  astonishment,  however,  he  learned  that 
the  noise  he  had  heard  was  the  cheering  of  the 
people  upon  his  nomination. 

The  convention  had  been  taken  entirely  by  sur 
prise.  Before  any  of  his  opponents  had  had  time 
to  say  a  word,  an  Ashtabula  delegate  had  risen 
to  his  feet  and  declared  that  "  a  man  who  could 
face  a  delegation  like  that,  ought  to  be  nominated 
by  acclamation."  Then,  the  popular  feeling  ex- 


134  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

pressed  itself  freely,  and  Garfield  was  renominated 
with  great  applause. 

"  It  vvas  a  bold  action  on  my  part,"  he  said 
afterward,  "  but  it  showed  me  the  truth  of  the 
old  maxim  that  '  Honesty  is  the  best  policy/  and 
I  have  ever  since  been  entirely  independent  in  my 
relations  with  the  people  of  my  district." 

Ben  Wade,  the  "old  war-horse,"  was  greatly 
touched  by  Garfield's  championship. 

"I  shall  never  forget  it,  never,  sir,  while  I  live 
on  this  earth  !  "  he  exclaimed  as  he  held  the  hand 
of  the  young  statesman  in  his  iron  grasp. 

Garfield  was  elected  by  a  majority  of  twelve 
thousand,  and  on  his  return  to  Congress  the  second 
term,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  requested  that 
he  might  have  a  place  on  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means. 

From  his  entrance  into  Congress,  Garfield  had 
made  a  special  study  of  finance  and  political 
economy.  He  was  therefore,  well  equipped  for 
this  new  position,  and  nothing  could  move  him 
from  the  firm  stand  he  had  taken  in  favor  of 
specie  payments  and  the  honorable  fulfilment  of 
the  nation's  contract. 

"  I  affirm, "he  boldly  declared  before  the  House, 
"  against  all  opposers,  that  the  highest  and  foremost 
present  duty  of  the  American  people  is  to  com 
plete  the  resumption  of  specie  payments  ;  and  first 
of  all,  because  the  sacred  faith  of  this  republic 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  135 

is  pledged  to  resumption  ;  and  if  it  were  never  so 
hard  to  do  it,  if  the  burdens  were  ten  times  greater 
than  they  are,  this  nation  dare  not  look  in  the  face 
of  God  and  men,  and  break  its  plighted  word. 

"  It  is  a  fearful  thing  for  one  man  to  stand  up  in 
the  face  of  his  brother-man  and  refuse  to  keep  his 
pledge ;  but  it  is  a  forty-five  million  times  worse 
thing  for  a  nation  to  do  it.  It  breaks  the  main 
spring  of  faith.  It  unsettles  all  security ;  it  dis 
turbs  all  values ;  and  it  puts  the  life  of  the  nation 
in  peril  for  all  time  to  come. 

"  I  am  almost  ashamed  to  give  any  other  reason 
for  resumption  than  this  one  I  have  given.  It  is 
so  complete  that  no  other  is  needed ;  but  there  is 
another  almost  as  strong.  If  there  were  no  moral 
obligations  resting  upon  the  nation,  if  there  were 
no  public  faith  pledged  to  it,  I  affirm  that  the  re 
sumption  of  specie  payment  is  demanded  by  every 
interest  of  business  in  this  country,  and  so  impera 
tively  demanded  that  it  can  be  demonstrated  that 
every  honest  interest  in  America  will  be  strength 
ened  and  bettered  by  the  resumption  of  specie 
payment." 

Garfield's  fidelity  to  conviction  was  strikingly 
shown  in  a  case  at  this  time  when  in  some  of  the 
states  there  were  conflicts  between  civil  and  mili 
tary  authorities.  He  was  too  well  versed  in  law 
to  follow  blindly  the  opinion  of  the  majority. 

"Young  man,"  said  Judge  Jeremiah  Black  to 


136  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

him,  "  it  is  a  perilous  thing  for  a  young  Republi 
can  in  Congress  to  take  such  an  independent  stand, 
and  I  don't  want  you  to  injure  yourself." 

"That  consideration,"  replied  Garfield,  "does 
not  weigh  with  me ;  I  believe  in  English  liberty 
and  English  law." 

Speaker  Colfax  wanted  to  reappoint  him  on  the 
military  committee,  but  he  asked  to  be  excused, 
saying,  — 

"  I  would  rather  serve  where  I  can  study  finance  ; 
this  is  to  be  the  great  question  in  the  future  of  our 
country." 

In  his  first  speech  on  the  tariff  question,  he 
defines  his  position  as  follows  :  — 

"I  hold  that  a  properly  adjusted  competition 
between  home  and  foreign  products  is  the  best 
gauge  to  regulate  international  trade.  Duties 
should  be  so  high  that  our  manufacturers  can  fairly 
compete  with  the  foreign  product,  but  not  so  high 
as  to  enable  them  to  drive  out  the  foreign  article, 
enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  trade,  and  regulate  the 
price  as  they  please.  This  is  my  doctrine  of 
protection." 

In  the  well-remembered  controversy  that  suc 
ceeded  General  Schenck's  tariff  bill,  Garfield 
said, — 

"  The  great  want  of  industry  is  a  stable  policy  ; 
and  it  is  a  significant  comment  on  the  character  of 
our  legislation  that  Congress  has  become  a  terror 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  137 

to  the  business  men  of  the  country A  dis 
tinguished  citizen  of  my  own  district  has  lately 
written  me  this  significant  sentence  :  '  If  the  laws 
of  God  and  nature  were  as  vacillating  and  uncer 
tain  as  the  laws  of  Congress  in  regard  to  the  busi 
ness  of  its  people,  the  universe  wrould  soon  fall 
into  chaos.' 

"Examining  thus  the  possibilities  of  the  situ 
ation,  I  believe  that  the  true  course  for  the  friends 
of  protection  to  pursue,  is  to  reduce  the  rates  on 
imports  when  we  can  justly  and  safely  do  so  ;  and 
accepting  neither  of  the  extreme  doctrines,  en 
deavor  to  establish  a  stable  policy  that  will  com 
mend  itself  to  all  patriotic  and  thoughtful  people." 

Finding  that  no  one  in  Congress  had  made  a 
business  of  examining  in  detail  the  various  appro 
priations  of  the  public  money,  Garfield  took  the 
arduous  task  upon  his  ow^n  shoulders  so  that  he 
might  vote  more  intelligently.  Having  made  out 
a  careful  analysis,  he  delivered  it  before  the 
House  ;  it  was  so  well  received,  that  each 
succeeding  year  another  was  called  for,  until 
"  Garfield's  budget  speech  "  became  a  well-known 
institution  in  Congress,  and  wras  considered  a  most 
important  help  in  reducing  the  expenditures  of  the 
Government. 

A  few  years  later,  Garfield  was  promoted  to 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Appropria 
tions. 


138  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XVIT 

Assassination  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  —  The  New  York  Mob.  —  Gar- 
field's  Memorable  Words.  —  Eulogy  upon  Lincoln.  —  Memorial 
Oration.  —  Eulogy  upon  Senator  Morton.  —  Extracts  from  other 
Orations. 

IT  is  the  morning  after  the  fateful  fourteenth  of 
April,  1865.  From  the  Atlantic  shore  to  the 
Pacific  the  whole  startled  nation  is  in  the  wildest 
state  of  excitement.  President  Lincoln,  with  the 
glorious  words  of  Emancipation  still  warm  upon 
his  lips,  has  been  shot  down  by  the  hand  of  Booth. 
The  newsboys  shout  through  the  streets  that 
Seward  is  dying  —  that  the  lives  of  other  Govern 
ment  officers  have  been  assailed  ! 

A  furious  mob  rules  the  thoroughfares  of  New 
York  and  clamors  for  revenge.  One  man  who  is 
suspected  of  rebel  sentiments  is  shot  dead  on  the 
spot ;  another  instant  and  his  adversary  lies  beside 
him  in  the  gutter. 

"To  the  World!  To  the  office  of  the  World  f  " 
shout  the  rabble,  bearing  high  above  their  heads 
a  roughly  constructed  gallows. 

Suddenly,  a  tall,  manly  figure  steps  forward 
with  a  small  flag  in  his*  hand. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  139 

"  Another  telegram  from  Washington ! "  ex 
claims  a  chorus  of  excited  voices. 

A  dead  silence  follows,  and  then,  with  a  rev 
erential  glance  heavenward,  the  stranger  begins 
in  clear,  deep  tones,  — 

"  Fellow-  citizens !  clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  Him.  His  pavilion  is  dark  waters 
and  thick  clouds  of  the  skies.  Justice  and  judg 
ment  are  the  establishment  of  His  throne.  Mercy 
and  truth  shall  go  before  His  face.  Fellow  citi 
zens,  God  reigns,  and  the  Government  at  Wash 
ington  still  lives ! " 

An  eye-witness  writes  of  the  memorable  scene : 

"  The  crowd  stood  riveted  to  the  ground  with 
awe,  gazing  at  the  motionless  orator,  and  thinking 
of  God  and  the  security  of  the  Government  in 
that  hour.  As  the  boiling  wave  subsides  and 
settles  to  the  sea,  when  some  strong  wind  beats 
it  down,  so  the  tumult  of  the  people  sank  and 
became  still.  All  took  it  as  a  divine  omen.  It 
was  a  triumph  of  eloquence,  inspired  by  the 
moment,  such  as  falls  to  but  one  man's  lot,  and 
that  but  once  in  a  century.  The  genius  of  Web 
ster,  Choate,  Everett,  Seward,  never  reached  it. 
What  might  have  happened  had  the  surging  and 
maddened  crowd  been  let  loose,  none  can  tell. 
The  man  for  the  crisis  was  on  the  spot,  more 
potent  than  Napoleon's  guns  at  Paris.  I  in 
quired  what  was  his  name.  The  answer  came 


140  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

in  a  low  whisper,  '  It  is  General  Garfield  of 
Ohio  ! ' " 

"  God  reigns ;  and  the  Government  at  Washing 
ton  still  lives!"  With  what  majestic  eloquence 
those  immortal  words  come  back  to  us  to-day  ! 
With  what  quickened  sympathies  we  re-read  his 
grand  eulogy  delivered  a  year  later  in  Con 
gress,  upon  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  martyred  pres 
ident  ! 

Have  not  the  American  people  repeated  one  of 
those  "times  in  the  history  of  men  and  nations 
when  they  stand  so  near  the  veil  that  separates 
mortals  from  immortals,  time  from  eternity,  and 
men  from  their  God,  that  they  can  almost  hear  the 
beatings  and  feel  the  pulsations  of  the  heart  of 
the  Infinite?" 

Through  its  parting  folds  the  thin  veil  has  ad 
mitted  another  "  martyr  president  to  the  company 
of  the  dead  heroes  of  the  Republic."  Shall  not 
the  whispers  of  God  be  heard  by  the  children  of 
men?  Awe-stricken  by  His  voice,  shall  not  the 
American  people  again  "kneel  in  tearful  reverence 
and  make  a  solemn  covenant  with  Him  and  with 
each  other  that  this  nation  shall  be  saved  from 
its  enemies,  and  the  temples  of  freedom  and 
justice  built  upon  foundations  that  shall  survive 
forever  ?  " 

Upon  the  birthday  of  Lincoln,  February  12th, 
1878,  when  Carpenter's  painting  of  "The  Eman- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  141 

cipation"  was  presented  to  Congress  by  Mrs. 
Thompson,  Garfield  delivered  another  memorial 
oration,  from  which  we  quote  the  following  beauti 
ful  passages :  — 

"  The  representatives  of  the  nation  have  opened 
the  doors  of  this  Chamber  to  receive  at  her  hands 
a  sacred  trust.  In  coming  hither,  these  living 
representatives  have  passed  under  the  dome  and 
through  that  beautiful  and  venerable  hall,  which, 
on  another  occasion,  I  have  ventured  to  call  the 
third  House  of  American  Representatives,  that 
silent  assembly  whose  members  have  received 
their  high  credentials  at  the  impartial  hand  of  his 
tory.  Year  by  year,  we  see  the  circle  of  its 
immortal  membership  enlarging ;  year  by  year,  we 
see  the  elect  of  their  country,  in  eloquent  silence, 
taking  their  places  in  this  American  pantheon, 
bringing  within  its  sacred  precincts  the  wealth  of 
those  immortal  memories  which  made  their  lives 
illustrious  ;  and  year  by  year,  that  august  assembly 
is  teaching  deeper  and  grander  lessons  to  those 
who  serve  in  these  more  ephemeral  Houses  of 
Congress. 

"Abraham  Lincoln"  (and  may  we  not  say  the 
same  of  James  Abram  Garfield?)  "was  one  of  the 
few  great  rulers  whose  wisdom  increased  with  his 
power,  and  whose  spirit  grew  gentler  and  tenderer 
as  his  triumphs  were  multiplied. 

"His  character  is  aptly  described  in  the  words 


142  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

of  England's  great  laureate  —  written  thirty  years 
ago  —  in  which  he  traces  the  upward  steps  of  some 

*  Divinely  gifted  man, 
Whose  life  in  low  estate  began, 
And  on  a  simple  village  green; 

*  Who  breaks  his  birth's  invidious  bar, 

And  grasps  the  skirts  of  happy  chance, 
And  breasts  the  blow  of  circumstance, 
And  grapples  with  his  evil  star ; 

*  Who  makes  by  force  his  merit  known, 

And  lives  to  clutch  the  golden  keys, 

To  mould  a  mighty  State's  decrees, 

And  shape  the  whisper  of  the  throne ; 

'  And  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 
Becomes  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope, 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire.' 

"  Such  a  life  and  character  will  be  treasured  for 
ever  as  the  sacred  possession  of  the  American 
people  and  of  mankind." 

Again,  in  Garfield's  eulogy  upon  Senator  Mor 
ton  of  Indiana,  how  truly  the  words  apply  to 
himself :  — 

"His  force  of  will  was  most  masterful.  It  was 
not  mere  stubbornness,  or  pride  of  opinion,  which 
weak  and  narrow  men  mistake  for  firmness.  But 
it  was  that  stout-hearted  persistency  which,  having 
once  intelligently  chosen  an  object,  pursues  it 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  143 

through  sunshine  and  storm,  undaunted  by  diffi 
culties,  and  unterrified  by  danger. 

"  He  possessed  an  intellect  of  remarkable  clear 
ness  and  force.  With  keen  analysis  he  found  the 
core  of  a  question,  and  worked  from  the  centre 

outward Few  men  have  been  so  greatly 

endowed  with  the  power  of  clear  statement  and 
unassailable  argument.  The  path  of  his  thought 
was  straight,  — 

*  Like  that  of  the  swift  cannon-ball 
Shattering  that  it  may  reach,  and 
Shattering  what  it  reaches." 

"  When  he  had  hit  the  mark,  he  used  no  addi 
tional  words,  and  sought  for  no  decoration.  These 
qualities,  joined  to  his  power  of  thinking  quickly, 
placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  debaters,  and  every 
year  increased  his  power." 

One  of  Garfield's  most  popular  eulogies  was 
that  upon  John  Winthrop  and  Samuel  Adams,  from 
which  we  quote  the  following  striking  passages  :  — 

"It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  while  Samuel 
Adams  was  writing  the  great  argument  of  liberty 
in  Boston,  almost  at  the  same  time  Patrick  Henry 
was  formulating  the  same  doctrines  in  Virginia. 
It  is  one  of  the  grandest  facts  of  that  grand  time 
that  the  colonies  were  thus  brought,  by  an  almost 
universal  consent,  to  tread  the  same  pathway,  and 
reach  the  same  great  conclusions. 


144  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  But  most  remarkable  of  all  is  the  fact  that, 
throughout  all  that  period,  filled  as  it  was  with  the 
revolutionary  spirit,  the  men  who  guided  the 
storm  exhibited  the  most  wonderful  power  of 
self-restraint.  If  I  were  to-day  to  state  the  singk 
quality  that  appears  to  me  most  admirable  among 
the  fathers  of  the  revolution,  I  should  say  it  was 
this :  that  amidst  all  the  passions  of  war,  they  ex 
hibited  so  wonderful  a  restraint,  so  great  a  care  to 
observe  the  forms  of  law,  to  protect  the  rights  of 
the  minority,  to  preserve  all  those  great  rights 
that  had  come  down  to  them  from  the  common 
law,  so  that  wrhen  they  had  achieved  their  indepen 
dence,  they  were  still  a  law-abiding  people." 

When  a  resolution  of  thanks  was  about  to  be 
passed  in  Congress  to  General  Thomas  for  his 
generalship  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  Garfield 
moved  an  amendment,  by  inserting  the  name  of 
General  Rosecrans. 

After  an  eloquent  appeal  in  behalf  of  his  old 
commander,  he  closed  with  the  following  words  : — 

"  Who  took  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Cum 
berland,  —  found  the  army  at  Bowling  Green,  in 
November,  1862,  as  it  lay  disorganized,  disheart 
ened,  driven  back  from  Alabama  and  Tennessee, — 
and  led  it  across  the  Cumberland,  planted  it  in 
Nashville,  and  thence,  on  the  first  day  of  the  new 
year,  planted  his  banners  at  Murfreesboro,  in 
torrents  of  blood,  and  in  the  moment  of  our  ex- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  145 

tremest  peril,  throwing  himself  into  the  breach, 
saved  by  his  personal  labor  the  Army  of  the  Cum 
berland  and  the  hopes  of  the  Republic?  It  was 
General  Rosecrans.  From  the  day  he  assumed 
the  command  at  Bowling  Green,  the  history  of 
that  army  may  be  written  in  one  sentence — it 
advanced  and  maintained  its  advanced  position  — 
and  its  last  campaign  under  the  general  it  loved 
was  the  bloodiest  and  most  brilliant. 

"  The  fruits  of  Chickamauga  were  gathered  in 
November,  on  the  heights  of  Mission  Ridge  and 
among  the  clouds  of  Lookout  Mountain.  That 
battle  at  Chattanooga  was  a  glorious  one,  and 
every  loyal  heart  was  proud  of  it.  But,  sir,  it  was 
won  when  we  had  nearly  three  times  the  number 
of  the  enemy.  It  ought  to  have  been  won. 
Thank  God  it  was  won  !  I  would  take  no  laurel 
from  the  brow  of  the  man  who  won  it,  but  I  would 
remind  gentlemen  here,  that  while  the  battle  of 
Chattanooga  was  fought  with  vastly  superior  num 
bers  on  our  part,  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  was 
fought  with  still  vaster  superiority  against  us. 

"  If  there  is  any  man  upon  earth  whom  I  honor, 
it  is  the  man  who  is  named  in  this  resolution — 
General  George  H.  Thomas.  I  had  occasion,  in 
my  remarks  on  the  conscription  bill  a  few  days  ago, 
to  refer  to  him  in  such  terms  as  I  delighted  to  use  ; 
and  I  say  to  gentlemen  here  that  if  there  is  any 
man  whose  heart  would  be  hurt  by  this  resolution 


146  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

as  it  now  stands,  that  man  is  General  George  H. 
Thomas.  I  know,  and  all  know,  that  he  deserves 
well  of  his  country,  and  his  name  ought  to  be 
recorded  in  letters  of  gold  ;  but  I  know  equally 
well  that  General  Kosecrans  deserves  well  of  his 
country. 

"I  ask  you  then,  not  to  pain  the  heart  of  a 
noble  man,  who  will  be  burdened  with  the  weight 
of  these  thanks  that  wrong  his  brother  officer  and 
superior  in  command.  All  I  ask  is  that  you  will 
put  both  names  into  the  resolution,  and  let  them 
stand  side  by  side." 

It  is  needless  to  add  that  the  amendment  was 
accepted,  and  that  the  name  of  General  Rosecrans 
was  inserted  with  that  of  General  Thomas. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  147 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  Home  in  Washington.  —  "Fruit  between  Leaves."  —  Classical 
Studies.  —  Mrs.  Garfield.  — Variety  of  Reading.  — Favorite  Verses. 

IN  a  private  letter  to  Colonel  Rockwell,  dated 
August  30th,  1869,  Garfield  writes  :  — 

"  It  seems  as  though  each  year  added  more  to 
the  work  that  falls  to  my  share.  This  season  I 
have  the  main  weight  of  the  Census  Bill  and  the 
reports  to  carry,  and  the  share  of  the  Ohio  cam 
paign  that  falls  to  me ;  and  in  addition  to  all  this  I 
am  running  in  debt  and  building  a  house  in 
Washington. 

"  On  looking  over  my  accounts,  I  found  I  had 
paid  out  over  five  thousand  dollars  since  I  first 
went  to  Congress,  for  rent  alone,  and  all  this  is  a 
dead  loss ;  so,  finding  an  old  staff-officer  (Major 
D.  G.  Swaim),  I  negotiated  enough  to  enable  me 
to  get  a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Thirteenth  and  I 
Streets,  north,  opposite  to  Franklin  Square,  and  I 
have  got  a  house  three-quarters  done.  It  may  be 
a  losing  business,  but  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  sell 
it  when  I  am  done  with  it,  so  as  to  save  myself 
the  rent." 


148  LIFE    AKD   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

This  house,  where  Garfield  and  his  family  spent 
so  many  happy  hours  during  their  winter  sojourns 
in  Washington,  is  a  plain  brick  mansion  with  a 
wing  built  out  on  the  east  side  to  accommodate  his 
fine  library.  The  parlor  windows  look  out  upon 
Franklin  Square  and  the  corner  of  I  and  Thirteenth 
Streets. 

To  a  visitor  ushered  into  this  pleasant,  cheery 
drawing-room,  the  first  object  that  greeted  the  eye 
was  an  excellent  portrait  of  "  Grandma  Garfield," 
which  hung  over  the  grand  piano.  On  the  opposite 
side  was  a  beautiful  painting  of  "  Little  Trot,"  the 
baby-girl  whose  loss  the  loving  father  never  ceased 
to  deplore.  The  room  was  tastefully  but  simply 
furnished,  and  in  the  small  sitting-room,  leading 
out  of  the  parlor,  the  pretty  desk  piled  up  with 
books  and  papers,  seemed  the  most  important  piece 
of  furniture. 

The  dining-room  with  its  Japanese  dado,  and  its 
chairs  and  table  of  Austrian  bent  wood  was  a  par 
ticularly  pleasant  room.  Just  above  the  mantel 
hung  a  half-finished  sketch  of  an  old-time  knight 
balancing  in  one  hand  an  empty  glass,  and  leaning 
the  other  upon  an  inn  table. 

An  artist  friend  began  the  painting  with  the 
intention  of  carrying  out  an  ideal  that  Garfield 
had  once  expressed  at  a  Shakespearian  gathering. 
Dying  before  the  picture  was  finished,  the  painter 
left  only  an  outline  of  the  idea,  but  that  outline, 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD. 

Garfield  valued  very  highly.  His  love  for  pictures 
was  almost  as  great  as  his  love  for  books,  and  the 
walls  of  this  plain  little  house  in  Thirteenth  Street 
were  adorned  with  many  choice  paintings  and 
engravings. 

Just  over  the  dining-room  was  the  library  where 
Garfield  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  time,  when 
free  from  congressional  duties.  In  the  centre 
stood  a  large  black  Walnut  office-desk  with  its  ac 
companiments  of  pigeon-holes,  boxes  and  drawers, 
filled  to  overflowing.  Six  or  seven  book-cases, 
holding  in  all  some  three  thousand  volumes,  stood 
against  the  walls ;  and  scrap-books  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes  confronted  you  everywhere. 

It  used  to  be  a  common  saying  in  Congress  that 
no  man  in  Washington  could  stand  before  the  army 
of  facts  that  Garfield  could  bring  forward  at  a 
moment's  notice.  This  readiness  was  largely  due 
to  his  systematic  course  of  reading,  and  his  invalu 
able  method  of  indexing.  For  instance  :  if  an 
author's  views  on  some  subject  struck  him  as 
particularly  good  and  worth  remembering,  he 
would  immediately  make  a  note  of  it  in  his  com 
monplace-book,  giving  with  the  topic,  the  volume, 
and  page  where  the  extract  could  be  found.  In 
this  manner  a  rich  fund  of  information  was  always 
at  hand ;  his  "  fruit  between  leaves  "  was  always 
ready  to  gather. 

The  record  of  the  Congressional  Library  shows 


150  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

that  he  took  out  more  books  than  any  other 
member  of  Congress ;  and  his  reading  embraced 
every  variety  of  subject,  history,  biography,  law, 
politics,  philosophy,  government,  and  poetry. 

At  one  time,  during  an  unusually  busy  session, 
a  friend  found  him  behind  a  big  barricade  of 
books. 

"  I  find  I'm  overworked,"  he  said,  "  and  need 
recreation.  Now  my  theory  is  that  the  best  way 
to  rest  the  mind  is  not  to  let  it  lie  idle,  but  to  put 
it  at  something  quite  outside  the  ordinary  line  of 
employment.  So,  I  am  resting  by  learning  all  the 
Congressional  Library  can  show  about  Horace, 
and  the  various  editions  and  translations  of  his 
poems." 

Mrs.  Garfield  showed  the  same  love  for  the 
classics  as  her  husband.  A  year  or  two  ago,  he 
said,  — 

"I  taught  my  wife  Latin  at  Hiram,  and  she  was 
as  good  a  pupil  as  I  had.  She  is  now  teaching 
the  same  Latin  to  my  two  big  boys." 

Mary  Clemmer  wrote  of  her  :  — 

"  Mrs.  Garfield  has  the  '  philosophic  mind '  that 
Wordsworth  sings  of,  and  she  has  a  self-poise,  a 
strength  of  unswerving  absolute  rectitude.  Much 
of  the  time  that  other  women  give  to  distributing 
visiting  cards,  Mrs.  Garfield  has  spent  in  the 
alcoves  of  the  Congressional  Library,  searching 
out  books  to  carry  home  to  study She 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  151 

has  moved  on  in  the  tranquil  tenor  of  her  unobtru 
sive  way,  in  a  life  of  absolute  devotion  to  duty ; 
never  forgetting  the  demands  of  her  position  or 
neglecting  her  friends,  yet  ir  aking  it  her  first  charge 
to  bless  her  home,  to  teach  her  children,  to  fit  her 
boys  for  college,  to  be  the  equal  friend,  as  well  as 
the  honored  wife,  of  her  husband." 

From  a  letter  of  Garfield's  to  President  Hins- 
dale  we  follow  the  indefatigable  reader  in  still 
another  course  of  study  :  — 

"Since  I  left  you  I  have  made  a  somewhat 
thorough  study  of  Goethe  and  his  epoch,  and 
have  sought  to  build  up  in  my  mind  a  picture  of 
the  state  of  literature  and  art  in  Europe,  at  the 
period  when  Goethe  began  to  work,  and  the  state 
when  he  died.  I  have  grouped  the  various  facts 
into  order,  have  written  them  out,  so  as  to  pre 
serve  a  memoir  of  the  impression  made  upon  my 
mind  by  the  whole.  The  sketch  covers  nearly 
sixty  pages  of  manuscript.  I  think  some  work 
of  this  kind  outside  the  track  of  one's  every  day 
work  is  necessary  to  keep  up  real  growth." 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  friend,  he  writes  :  — 

"  I  have  found  a  book  which  interests  me  very 
much.  You  may  have  seen  it ;  if  not  I  hope  you 
will  get  it.  It  is  entitled,  '  Ten  Great  Religions ' 
by  James  Freeman  Clarke.  I  have  read  the 
chapter  on  Buddhism  with  great  interest.  It  is 
admirably  written,  in  a  liberal  and  philosophic 


152  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

spirit,  and  I  am  sure  will  interest  you.  What  I 
have  read  of  it  leads  me  to  believe  that  we  have 
taken  too  narrow  a  view  of  the  subject  of  religion." 

Again,  when  a  fit  of  sickness  confined  him  to  the 
house,  he  says  :  — 

"  I  am  taking  advantage  of  this  enforced  leisure 
to  do  a  great  deal  of  reading.  Since  I  was  taken 
sick  I  have  read  the  following :  Sherman's  two 
volumes  ;  Leland's  '  English  Gypsies ' ;  George 
Borrow's  '  Gypsies  of  Spain ' ;  Borrow's  f  Rom- 
many  Rye ' ;  Tennyson's  '  Mary ' ;  seven  volumes 
of  Froude's  England;  several  plays  of  Shake 
speare,  and  have  made  some  progress  in  a  new 
book,  f  The  History  of  the  English  People,'  by 
Prof.  Green  of  Oxford." 

For  light  literature,  Garfield  usually  turned  to 
Thackeray,  Scott,  Dickens,  Jane  Austen,  Kingsley, 
or  Honore  de  Balzac.  He  was  fond  of  poetry,  and 
his  voluminous  scrap-books  contained  many  gems, 
from  one  of  which  we  cull  the  following  verses, 
said  to  be  his  especial  favorites :  — 

"  Commend  me  to  the  friend  that  comes 

When  I  am  sad  and  lone, 
And  makes  the  anguish  of  my  heart 

The  suffering  of  his  own; 
Who  coldly  shuns  the  glittering  throng 

At  pleasure's  gay  levee, 
And  comes  to  gild  a  sombre  hour 

And  give  his  heart  to  me. 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  153 

"He  hears  me  count  my  sorrows  o'er; 

And  when  the  task  is  done 
He  freely  gives  me  all  I  ask,  — 

A  sigh  for  every  one. 
He  cannot  wear  a  smiling  face 

When  mine  is  touched  with  gloom, 
But  like  the  violet  seeks  to  eheer 

The  midnight  with  perfume. 

"  Commend  me  to  that  generous  heart 

Which  like  the  pine  on  high, 
Uplifts  the  same  unvarying  brow 

To  every  change  of  sky; 
Whose  friendship  does  not  fade  away 

When  wintry  tempests  blow, 
But  like  the  winter's  icy  crown 

Looks  greener  through  the  snow. 

"  He  flies  not  with  the  flitting  stork. 

That  seeks  a  southern  sky, 
But  lingers  where  the  wounded  bird 

Hath  lain  him  down  to  die. 
Oh,  such  a  friend!     He  is  in  truth, 

Whatever  his  lot  may  be, 
A  rainbow  on  the  storm  of  life, 

An  anchor  on  its  sea." 


154  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  XX. 

Tide  of  Unpopularity.  —  Misjudged.  —  Vindicated.  —  Re-elected.  — 
The  De  Golyer  Contract.  —  The  Salary  Increase  Question.— 
Incident  related  by  President  Hinsdale. 

IT  was  impossible  for  a  man  of  strong  indepen 
dent  views  like  Garfield,  to  mount  the  ladder  of 
fame  so  rapidly  without  meeting  some  opposition. 

A  lawyer  by  profession,  he  was  at  one  time 
called  to  appear  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  behalf 
of  some  Confederates  who  had  been  tried  by  a, 
court-martial  and  condemned  to  death.  Of  this 
case  an  able  writer  says,  the  rebels  had  been  "  tried 
by  martial  law  in  a  State,  in  time  of  peace  de  facto 
in  the  State,  and  in  a  section  of  State  not  under 
martial  law.  The  legal  question  was,  whether  any 
military  body  had  such  power  under  the  circum 
stances.  Should  the  civil  power  be  ignored  in 
time  of  peace,  or  in  sections  of  the  country  where 
martial  law  had  not  been  proclaimed  ?  It  was  a 
case  for  which  Garfield  received  no  pay,  and  was 
undertaken  as  a  test  of  this  important  principle." 

By  his  clear,  forcible  presentation  of  the  case 
and  the  law,  in  which  he  was  fully  sustained  by  the 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  155 

Court  and  the  presiding  justice  —  the  criminals 
were  finally  set  at  liberty. 

When  the  Ohio  district  that  sent  Garfield  to 
Congress,  heard  that  he  had  been  pleading  in 
Court  for  condemned  rebels,  a  large  proportion 
voted  against  him.  As  soon,  however,  as  the 
facts  of  the  case  were  fully  known,  the  tide  of 
popular  feeling  again  turned  towards  their  favorite 
leader,  and  Garfield  was  re-elected. 

The  De  Golyer  contract  was  the  next  to  excite 
unfavorable  comment.  But  again ,  when  a  thorough 
investigation  had  been  made,  Garfield  was  found 
to  be  entirely  innocent  of  the  charges  brought 
against  him. 

Mr.  Wilson,  the  chairman  of  the  Congressional 
Committee  of  Investigation,  gives  a  clear  statement 
of  the  case  as  follows  :  — > 

"  The  Board  of  Public  Works  at  Washington 
was  considering  the  question  as  to  the  kind  of 
pavements  that  should  be  laid.  There  was  a  con 
test  as  to  the  respective  merits  of  various  wooden 
pavements.  Mr.  Parsons  represented,  as  attorney  % 
the  De  Golyer  &  McClellan  patent,  and  being 
called  away  from  Washington  about  the  time  the 
hearing  was  to  be  had  before  the  Board  of  Public 
Works  on  this  subject,  procured  General  Garfield 
to  appear  before  the  Board  in  his  stead  and  argue 
the  merits  on  this  patent.  This  he  did,  and  this 
was  the  whole  of  his  connection  in  the  matter. 


156  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

It  was  not  a  question  as  to  the  kind  of  contract 
that  should  be  made,  but  as  to  whether  this  par 
ticular  kind  of  pavement  should  be  laid.  The 
criticism  of  the  committee  was  not  upon  the  pave 
ment  in  favor  of  which  General  Garfield  argued, 
but  was  upon  the  contract  made  with  reference  to 
it ;  and  there  was  no  evidence  which  would  warrant 
the  conclusion  that  he  had  anything  to  do  with  the 
latter." 

There  were  forty  kinds  of  pavement  presented, 
and  for  drawing  up  a  brief  in  favor  of  the  De 
Golyer  patent,  Garfield  received  a  fee  of  five 
thousand  dollars. 

This  was  an  honorable  business  transaction. 
"There  was  not  in  my  opinion,"  adds  Mr.  Wilson, 
"  any  evidence  that  would  have  warranted  any  un 
favorable  criticism  upon  his  conduct." 

Garfield  defended  himself  in  a  manly,  straight 
forward  manner.  "  If  anybody  in  the  world,"  he 
said  in  conclusion,  "holds  that  my  fee  in  connec 
tion  with  this  pavement,  even  by  suggestion  or 
implication,  had  any  relation  whatever  to  any 
appropriation  by  Congress  for  anything  connected 
with  this  District,  or  with  anything  else,  it  is  due 
to  me,  it  is  due  to  this  committee,  and  it  is  due  to 
Congress,  that  that  person  be  summoned.  If  there 
be  a  man  on  this  earth  who  makes  such  a  charge, 
that  man  is  the  most  infamous  perjurer  that  lives, 
and  I  shall  be  glad  to  confront  him  anywhere  in 
this  world." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  157 

The  political  opponents  of  Garfield  delighted  to 
call  him  a  "  salary  grabber,"  but  with  how  much 
justice  the  following  facts  will  show. 

On  the  7th  of  February,  1873,  a  bill  was  pre 
sented  in  Congress,  together  with  a  report  submit 
ted  by  B.  F.  Butler,  from  the  Judiciary  Committee 
of  the  House  of  Representatives,  for  the  passing 
of  the  so-called  retroactive  law.  Its  object  was  to 
increase  the  pay  of  members  of  Congress  for  past 
services,  a  measure  that  Garfield  strenuously  op 
posed  from  the  first.  A  few  days  later  Butler 
tried  to  incorporate  it  with  the  miscellaneous 
appropriation  bill.  Of  the  whole  matter,  Garfield 
spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  wish  to  state  in  a  few  words  the  condition 
of  the  salaries-increase  question  in  the  conference 
committee  of  the  Senate  and  the  House.  The 
Senate  conferees  were  unanimous  in  favor  of  fixing 
the  salary  at  $7,500  and  cutting  off  all  allowance 
except  actual  individual  travelling  expenses  of  a 
member  from  his  home  to  Washington  and  back 
again,  once  a  session.  That  proposition  was 
agreed  to  by  a  majority  of  the  conferees  on  the 
part  of  the  House.  I  was  opposed  to  the  increase 
in  the  conference  as  I  have  been  opposed  to  it 
in  the  discussion  and  in  my  votes  here ;  but  my 
associate  conferees  were  in  favor  of  the  Senate 
amendment,  and  I  was  compelled  to  choose  between 
signing  the  report  and  running  the  risk  of  bring- 


158  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SEE  VICES    OF 

ing  on  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  I  have 
signed  the  report,  and  I  present  it  as  it  is,  and  ask 
the  House  to  act  on  it  in  accordance  with  its  best 
judgment." 

Garfield  felt  that  Congress  had  no  right  to 
increase  its  own  pay,  but  those  who  favored  the 
plan  had  attached  it  to  another  bill  that  he  very 
much  desired  to  see  passed. 

President  Hinsdale  who  was  in  Washington  at 
the  time,  says,  — 

"There  is  an  incident  connected  with  that 
bill  which  I  will  relate,  not  because  I  was  con 
cerned  in  it,  but  because  it  shows  something 
of  the  working  of  Gar  field's  mind.  I  got  to  Wash 
ington  on  Saturday,  and  on  Sunday  there  was  a 
long  session  of  the  committee  on  appropriations  de 
voted  to  the  discussion  of  the  increase  of  salaries. 
This  feature  was  a  rider  on  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant  appropriation  bills.  Garfield  opposed  the 
rider,  but  was  overruled  by  the  committee.  On 
Monday,  I  happened  to  pass  the  room  of  the 
committee  on  appropriations  and  I  found  General 
Garfield  walking  up  and  down  the  corridor.  He 
said  to  me, — 

r  r  I've  got  to  decide  in  fifteen  minutes  whether 
I  will  sign  that  bill  or  not.  If  I  do,  I  go  on  the 
record  as  indorsing  a  measure  that  I  have  been 
opposing.  If  I  do  not,  I  lose  all  control  of  the 
bill.  It  will  be  reported  to  the  House  by  General 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  159 

Butler,  and  he  will  control  the  debate  on  it.  The 
session  of  Congress  ends  to-morrow,  and  if  the 
bill  fails  to  pass,  this  Congress  will  expire  without 
making  provisions  for  carrying  on  the  government. 
Now,  what  would  you  do  ? ' 

"I  told  him  that  I  would  sign  the  bill,  and  in 
the  House  I  would  briefly  explain  why  I  had  at 
last  signed  a  bill  which  I  had  opposed.  I  don't 
assume  that  his  conduct  was  guided  by  my  advice, 
but  he  pursued  the  course  I  had  indicated." 

The  bill  passed ;  but  immediately  upon  the 
receipt  of  the  back  pay  that  had  been  voted  him, 
Garfield  returned  the  money  to  the  Treasury. 


160  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

The  Credit  Mobilier.  —  Garfield  entirely  Cleared  of  all  Charges  Against 
him.  —  Tribute  to  him  in  Cincinnati  Gazette. — Elected  U.  S. 
Senator.  —  Extract  from  Speech.  —  Sonnet. 

A  STILL  more  fruitful  source  of  scandal  was  the 
association  of  Garfield' s  name  with  the  Credit 
Mobilier  stock.  The  company  bearing  this  high- 
sounding  French  title  was  chartered,  as  early  as 
1859,  under  the  law  of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  al 
leged  purpose  of  buying  land,  loaning  money, 
building  houses,  etc. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  it  ceased  operations, 
until  in  1866  the  construction  of  the  Pacific  rail 
road  brought  it  again  into  notice. 

By  using  the  charter  of  this  Credit  Mobilier, 
Mr.  Oakes  Ames  and  his  associates  saw  an  oppor 
tunity  of  making  large  sums  of  money.  They 
bought  up  a  majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Pacific 
Railroad,  and  secured  the  entire  control  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier.  A  contract  was  made  with  this 
company  to  build  the  road  at  an  exorbitant  profit, 
the  proceeds  of  which  were  to  be  divided  among 
themselves.  The  rights  and  interests  of  the  smaller 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  161 

stockholders  were  quite  ignored,  as  well  as  those  of 
the  United  States,  which,  besides  giving  millions 
of  acres,  had  also  indorsed  $60,000,000  of  its 
bonds,  to  assist  in  the  building  of  the  railroad. 

Of  course,  >all  this  fraudulent  dealing  was  kept  a 
profound  secret,  and  the  true  character  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier  was  not  known  to  the  public  for 
a  long  time. 

To  prevent  Congress  from  investigating  this 
outrageous  swindle,  the  ring  tried  to  dispose  of 
some  of  their  Credit  Mobilier  stock  to  different 
members  of  Congress. 

George  Francis  Train  called  upon  Garfield  and 
asked  him  to  invest. 

"  You  can  double  and  treble  your  money  in  a 
year,"  he  urged ;  "  the  object  of  the  company  is  to 
buy  land  where  cities  and  villages  are  to  spring  up." 

Garfield  told  Mr.  Train  that  he  had  no  money  to 
invest,  and  even  if  he  had,  he  should  want  to 
make  further  inquiries  before  entering  into  such  a 
transaction. 

A  year  later  Mr.  Ames,  who  was  a  member 
of  Congress,  came  to  Garfield  and  repeated  the 
request. 

"  If  you  have  no  money  to  spare,"  said  Mr. 
Ames,  "  I  will  hold  the  stock  until  you  can  find  it 
convenient  to  pay  for  it." 

After  taking  a  few  days  to  consider  the  matter, 
Garfield  told  Mr.  Ames  he  had  decided  not  to 
invest. 


162  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SEKVICES    OF 

The  following  July,  1867,  Garfield  sailed  for 
Europe,  and  in  order  to  obtain  funds  for  this  trip, 
he  turned  over  advanced  drafts  for  several  months 
of  his  congressional  salary.  When  he  returned 
home  in  November,  he  needed  a  small  sum,  for 
current  expenses,  and  borrowed  three  hundred 
dollars  of  Oakes  Ames.  This  loan  he  paid  back 
in  1869. 

Not  long  after  this  transaction,  Garfield  was 
informed  that  his  name  was  upon  Oakes  Ames' 
book  as  holding  ten  shares  of  the  Credit  Mobilier. 

He  demanded  an  explanation,  and  Mr.  Ames 
appeared  before  a  committee  of  investigation, 
upon  December  17,  1872.  His  testimony  was  as 
follows,  — 

"In  reference  to  Mr.  Garfield,"  said  the  chair 
man,  "you  say  that  you  agreed  to  get  ten  shares 
for  him  and  to  hold  them  till  he  could  pay  for 
them,  and  that  he  never  did  pay  for  them  nor 
receive  them  ?  " 

"Yes,  sir." 

"  He  never  paid  any  money  on  that  stock,  nor 
received  any  money  from  it  ?  " 

"Not  on  account  of  it." 

"  He  received  no  dividends  ?  " 

"  No,  sir ;  I  think  not.  He  says  he  did  not.  My 
own  recollection  is  not  very  clear." 

"  So,  that,  as  you  understand,  Mr.  Garfield 
never  parted  with  any  money,  nor  received  any 
money  on  that  transaction  ?  " 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  163 

"No,  sir;  he  had  some  money  from  me  once, 
some  three  or  four  hundred  dollars,  and  called  it  a 
loan.  He  says  that  is  all  he  ever  received  from 
me,  and  that  he  considered  it  a  loan.  He  never 
took  his  stock  and  never  paid  for  it." 

"  Did  you  understand  it  so  ?  " 

w  Yes ;  I  am  willing  to  so  understand  it.  I  do 
not  recollect  paying  him  any  dividend,  and  have 
forgotten  that  I  paid  him  any  money." 

Five  weeks  after  this  statement,  Mr.  Ames 
appeared  a  second  time  before  the  committee  with 
a  memorandum  in  which  there  was  an  entry  to  the 
effect  that  a  certain  amount  of  stock  had  been 
sold  for  $329  and  paid  over  to  General  Garfield ; 
that  it  was  not  paid  in  money,  but  by  a  check  on 
the  sergeant-at-arms. 

To  this  statement,  the  sergeant-at-arms,  Mr. 
Dillon,  testified  that  he  had  paid  a  check  of  $329, 
but  that  the  payment  had  been  made  to  Mr.  Ames, 
not  to  General  Garfield. 

It  was  conclusively  proved  that  Garfield's  name 
was  not  among  the  eleven  congressmen  who  had 
bought  shares  in  the  Credit  Mobilier. 

In  a  long  and  able  vindication  of  the  purity  of 
his  motives,  Garfield  concludes  with  the  following 
words  :  — 

"  If  there  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  who 
is  willing  to  believe  that,  for  $329,  I  have  bartered 
away  my  good  name,  and  to  falsehood  have  added 


164  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES    OF 

perjury,  these  lines  are  not  addressed  to  him.  If 
there  be  one  who  thinks  that  any  part  of  my  pub 
lic  life  has  been  guaged  on  so  low  a  level  as  these 
charges  would  place  it,  I  do  not  address  him ;  I 
address  those  who  are  willing  to  believe  that  it  is 
possible  for  a  man  to  serve  the  public  without 
personal  dishonor. 

"  If  any  of  the  scheming  corporations  or  corrupt 
rings  that  have  done  so  much  to  disgrace  the 
country  by  their  attempts  to  control  its  legislation, 
have  ever  found  in  me  a  conscious  supporter  or 
ally  in  any  dishonorable  scheme,  they  are  at  full 
liberty  to  disclose  it.  In  the  discussion  of  the 
many  grave  and  difficult  questions  of  public  policy 
which  have  occupied  the  thoughts  of  the  nation 
during  the  last  twelve  years,  I  have  borne  some 
part ;  and  I  confidently  appeal  to  the  public  records 
for  a  vindication  of  my  conduct." 

A  writer  in  the  Cincinnati  Enquirer  at  this  time 
thus  described  Garfield  :  — 

"With  as  honest  a  heart  as  ever  beat,  above  the 
competitions  of  sordid  ambition,  General  Garfield 
has  yet  so  little  of  the  worldly  wise  in  him  that  he 
is  poor,  and  yet  has  been  accused  of  dishonesty. 
He  has  no  capacity  for  investment,  nor  the  rapid 
solution  of  wealth,  nor  profound  respect  for  the 
penny  in  and  out  of  pound,  and  still,  is  neither 
careless,  improvident,  nor  dependent.  The  great 
consuming  passion  to  equal  richer  people,  and  live 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  165 

finely,  and  extend  his  social  power,  are  as  foreign  to 
him  as  scheming  or  cheating.  But  he  is  not  a 
suspicious  nor  a  high-mettled  man,  and  so  he  is 
taken  in  sometimes,  partly  from  his  obliging,  un- 
refusing  disposition.  Men  who  were  scheming 
imposed  upon  him  as  upon  Grant  and  other  crude- 
eyed  men  of  aifairs.  The  people  of  his  district, 
however,  who  are  quick  to  punish  public  venality 
or  defection,  heard  him  in  his  defence,  and  kept 
him  in  Congress  and  held  up  his  hand." 

Side  by  side  with  this  testimony,  listen  to  Gar- 
field's  own  words  in  the  Ohio  Senate  just  after  his 
election :  — 

"  During  the  twenty  years  I  have  been  in  the 
public  service  (almost  eighteen  of  it  in  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States) ,  I  have  tried  to  do  one 
thing.  I  have  represented  for  many  years  a  dis 
trict  in  Congress  whose  approbation  I  greatly  de 
sired,  but,  though  it  may  seem  perhaps  a  little 
egotistical  to  say  it,  I  yet  desired  still  more  the 
approbation  of. one  person,  and  his  name  is  Gar- 
field.  He  is  the  only  man  that  I  am  compelled  to 
sleep  with,  and  eat  with,  and  die  with,  and,  if  I 
could  not  have  his  approbation,  I  should  have  bad 
companionship." 

The  following  sonnet,  from  an  anonymous  pen, 
appeared  about  this  time  in  the  Washington  Even 
ing  Star:  — 


166  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


TO    JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 

"  Thou  who  didst  ride  on  Chickamauga's  day, 
All  solitary,  down  the  fiery  line, 
And  saw  the  ranks  of  battle  rusty  shine, 
Where  grand  old  Thomas  held  them  from  dismay, 
Regret  not  now,  while  meaner  factions  play 
Their  brief  campaigns  against  the  best  of  men ; 
For  those  spent  balls  of  slander  have  their  way, 
And  thou  shalt  see  the  victory  again. 
Weary  and  ragged,  though  the  broken  lines 
Of  party  reel,  and  thine  own  honor  bleeds, 
That  mole  is  blind  that  Garfield  undermines! 
That  shot  falls  short  that  hired  slander  speeds ! 
That  man  will  live  whose  place  the  state  assigns, 
And  whose  high  mind  the  mighty  nation  needs!  " 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  167 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

After  the  Ordeal.  —  Unanimous  Vote  of  the  General  Assembly  of 
Ohio.  —  Extract  from  Garfield's  Speech  of  Acceptance.  —  Purchase 
of  the  Farm  at  Mentor.  —  Description  of  the  New  House.  —  Life  at 
Mentor.  —  The  Garfield  Household.  —  Longing  for  Home  in  his 
Last  Hours. 

As  gold  is  tried  in  the  fire,  so  General  Garfield 
passed  through  the  distressing  ordeal  of  slander 
and  fierce  opposition.  In  January,  1880,  he  was 
elected  by  a  unanimous  vote  United  States  Sena 
tor  from  Ohio.  In  his  speech  of  acceptance,  he 
says,— 

"I  do  not  undervalue  the  office  that  you  have 
tendered  to  me  yesterday  and  to-day ;  but  I  say,  I 
think,  without  any  mental  reservation,  that  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  tendered  to  me  is  far  more 
desirable  than  the  thing  itself.  That  it  has  been  a 
voluntary  gift  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio, 
without  solicitation,  tendered  to  me  because  of 
their  confidence,  is  as  touching  and  high  a  tribute 
as  one  man  can  receive  from  his  fellow-citizens." 

Three  years  previous  to  his  election  as  Senator, 
Garfield  was  spending  his  summer  vacation  near 
Cleveland,  Ohio.  Driving  one  day  along  the 
stage-road  that  skirts  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie, 
he  came  to  the  pretty  town  of  Mentor. 


168  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

His  old  fascination  for  the  sparkling,  blue  waters 
returned — he  was  a  boy  again,  chopping  wood  in 
his  uncle's  forest  and  counting  the  sails  with  every 
stroke  !  Why  not  make  his  summer  home  just 
here  ? 

Upon  inquiry,  he  found  in  Mentor,  waiting  a 
purchaser,  a  fine  farm  of  a  hundred  and  twenty 
acres. 

The  little  cottage  upon  the  ground  would  ac 
commodate  his  family  for  awhile,  and  when  they 
went  back  to  Washington,  a  larger  and  more 
convenient  house  could  be  built  in  its  place.  So 
the  farm  was  purchased,  and  "  Lawnfield,"  the 
pleasant  Mentor  home,  established. 

The  new  house,  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the 
old  one,  suggests  comfort  rather  than  elegance. 
It  is  two  and  a  half  stories  high,  with  two  dormer 
windows  and  a  broad  veranda  in  front. 

The  wide,  airy  hall  contains  a  large  writing 
table,  in  addition  to  the  other  furniture,  and 
piles  of  books  and  papers  greet  you  in  every 
corner. 

The  first  floor  has  a  parlor,  sitting-room,  dining- 
room,  kitchen,  Wash-room  and  pantry,  planned 
with  every  convenience  by  Mrs.  Garfield,  to 
whom  the  architect's  papers  were  submitted. 

Two  of  the  pleasantest  rooms  on  the  second 
floor  are  fitted  up  especially  for  "  Grandma  Gar- 
field  ;  "  one  of  these  has  a  large,  old-fashioned 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  169 

fire-place,  and  is  conceded  to  be  the  brightest, 
cheeriest  room  in  the  whole  house. 

In  the  ell  is  a  small  room,  thirteen  and  a  half  by 
fourteen  feet,  called  by  the  children  "  papa's  snug 
gery."  It  is  not  the  library,  but  the  walls  are 
covered  with  book-shelves,  and  the  little  room 
seems  to  have  been  used  by  the  busy  statesman 
as  a  sort  of  "sanctum  sanctorum." 

The  library  is  a  separate  building,  a  few  steps 
to  the  northeast  of  the  house.  Garfield  used  to 
call  it  his  "workshop,"  and  the  books  of  refer 
ence,  indices,  public  documents,  etc.,  piled  up  on 
the  shelves,  show  the  numerous  tools  he  employed 
in  his  "  literary  carpentry." 

This  home  at  Mentor  was  purchased  especially 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Garfield  children,  but  both 
father  and  mother  enjoyed  the  quiet  country  life 
far  better  than  the  whirl  of  societv  at  Washington. 

"  O 

"  Isn't  it  strange,"  exclaimed  Garfield,  to  one  of 
his  guests,  "  how  a  man  will  revive  his  early  at 
tachment  to  farm-life?  For  twenty-five  years  I 
scarcely  remained  on  a  farm  for  a  longer  period 
than  a  few  days,  but  now  I  am  an  enthusiast.  I 
can  see  now  what  I  could  not  see  when  I  was 
a  boy.  It  is  delightful  to  watch  the  growing 
crops." 

As  "Washington  turned  with  delight  to  the  quiet 
shades  of  Mount  Vernon,  so  Garfield  looked  for 
ward  each  year  to  his  summer  at  Mentor. 


170  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Oftentimes,  his  visitors  would  find  him  out  in 
the  fields,  tossing  hay  with  his  boys,  superintend 
ing  the  farm- work,  or  planning  some  new  im 
provement. 

In  a  letter  to  a  friend^  he  says, — 

rt  You  can  hardly  imagine  how  completely  I  have 
turned  my  mind  out  of  its  usual  channels  during 
the  last  weeks.  You  know  I  have  never  been 
able  to  do  anything  moderately,  and,  to-day,  I  feel 
myself  lame  in  every  muscle  with  too  much  lifting 
and  digging.  I  shall  try  to  do  a  little  less  the 
coming  week." 

It  was  his  custom  at  Mentor  to  rise  very  early 
in  the  morning  ;  directly  after  breakfast  he  would 
mount  one  of  his  horses  and  go  all  over  the  farm, 
giving  directions  for  the  day's  work.  There 
were  one  hundred  and  twenty  acres  in  the  original 
farm,  but  forty  more  were  purchased  soon  after. 
The  beautiful  lawn,  together  with  the  garden  and 
orchard,  takes  up  about  twelve  acres.  Seventy 
more  are  under  cultivation,  and  the  remainder  are 
in  pasture  lots  and  woodland.  One  piece  of 
marshy  ground  has  been  carefully  drained,  and 
from  it  an  excellent  crop  of  wheat  is  obtained. 
Many  other  improvements  have  been  made,  as 
Garfield  was  an  enthusiast  in  scientific  farming. 
He  liked  nothing  better  than  to  show  visitors  over 
the  place ;  and,  in  making  the  rounds,  he  would 
always  take  them  down  the  lane  back  of  the  house, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  171 

and  up  to  the  top  of  the  ridge  beyond,  explaining 
how  the  level  basin  below  was  once  a  part  of  Lake 
Erie. 

The  little  town  of  Mentor  is  largely  settled  by 
New  Englanders,  and  the  hilly  surface,  the  groves 
of  maple,  oak,  and  hickory,  interspersed  with 
thrifty  farms,  remind  one  constantly  of  the  East 
ern  States.  Cleveland  is  only  twenty-five  miles  to 
the  east,  and  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  form  its 
northern  boundary.  To  reach  Mentor  by  rail,  one 
must  take  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan  Southern 
Railroad. 

A  gentleman,  who  dined  one  day  at  Lawnfield, 
says, — 

"  I  sat  next  to  Mrs.  Garfield,  and  I  found  her  a 

ready  and  charming  conversationalist She 

is  tall,  fine-looking,  has  a  kind,  good  face,  and  the 
gentlest  of  manners.  A  pair  of  black  eyes  and  a 
mouth  about  which  there  plays  a  sweetly-bewitch 
ing  smile,  are  the  most"  attractive  features  of  a 
thoroughly  expressive  face.  She  is  a  quick  ob 
server,  and  an  intelligent  listener." 

The  two  older  boys,  Harry  and  James,  are  fine, 
manly  fellows,  eighteen  and  sixteen  years  of  age. 
They  are  good  scholars,  and  passed  an  excellent  ex 
amination  upon  their  entrance  to  Williams  College 
in  the  fall  of  '81.  Mollie,  the  only  daughter,  is  a 
lovely  girl  of  fourteen.  The  next  child,  a  boy  of 
ten,  bears  the  name  of  Irvin  McDowell. 


172  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  I  had,"  said  Garfield,  w  a  personal  acquaint 
ance  with  General  McDowell,  and  I  knew  him  to 
be  an  upright  man  and  a  good  officer,  and  conse 
quently  protested  slightly  to  the  abuse  heaped 
upon  him  by  giving  my  son  his  name." 

The  youngest  child  is  seven  years  of  age,  and  is 
called  Abram,  for  his  grandfather. 

"  Grandma  Garfield,"  whose  features,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  children  and  their  parents,  have  be 
come  so  familiar  to  us,  is  a  bright,  active  old  lady 
of  eighty  years. 

"I  have  seen  Garfield,"  writes  Mr.  Campbell, 
the  editor  of  the  Wheeling  Intelligencer,  "  in  the 
midst  of  his  plain  home  life — beneath  his  West 
ern  Reserve  cottage  farmhouse.  His  surroundings 
were  those  of  a  man  of  culture,  but  of  a  man  of 
limited  means.  His  board  was  frugally  spread — 
scarcely  differing  in  any  respect  from  the  table  of 
his  humble  neighbors.  He  preferred  frugality  and 
self-denial  to  debt,  and  I  came  away,  doing  honor 
in  my  mind  to  this  sterling  trait  of  his  character." 

Some  of  the  happiest  hours  of  Garfield's  life 
were  spent  in  this  modest  home  at  Mentor,  and  as 
one  writer  beautifully  expresses  it,  through  those 
long,  long  summer  days,  "  wounded  to  death,  and 
looking  out  on  the  yellow,  dreary  Potomac,  so 
dreary,  so  yellow  in  the  throbbing  midsummer 
heat,  his  soul  wandered  in  his  dreams,  not  amid 
the  scenes  of  his  ambitions  or  his  achievements, 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  173 

but  through  the  haunts  of  his  boyhood,  through 
the  streets  of  Cleveland,  with  the  comrades  of  his 
prime ;  and  his  last  dream  on  earth  was  a  dream 
of  Mentor,  the  home  of  his  happy  and  prosperous 
manhood.  Its  modest  walls,  its  harvest  fields,  its 
peaceful  glades,  were  the  last  pictures  to  fill  his 
sight  with  delight  before  he  lifted  his  eyes  to  con 
front  the  glory  of  the  Heavenly  City." 


174  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

Republican  Convention  at  Chicago.  —  The  Three  Prominent  Candi 
dates.  —  Description  of  Conkling.  —  Logan.  —  Cameron.  —  De 
scription  of  Garfield.  —  Resolution  Introduced  by  Conkling.  — 
Opposition  of  West  Vii'ginians.  —  Garfield's  Conciliatory  Speech. 
—  His  Oration  in  Behalf  of  Sherman.  —  Opinions  of  the  Press. 

THE  National  Convention  of  the  Republican 
party  that  met  at  Chicago,  in  June,  1880,  will 
always  be  marked  with  a  red-letter  in  the  annals 
of  our  country.  The  third-term  issue,  the  unit 
rule,  district  representation,  and  the  arbitrary 
power  of  party  managers,  made  the  nomination 
for  President  one  long  scene  of  hard  fought 
battles. 

The  three  prominent  candidates  were  General 
Grant ;  James  G.  Elaine,  Senator  from  Maine ; 
and  John  Sherman,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

The  third-term  party  who  desired  the  nomina 
tion  of  Grant,  was  strongly  supported  by  Senator 
Conkling  of  New  York,  Senator  Cameron  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  Senator  Logan  of  Illinois. 
These  three  great  political  leaders  are  thus  de 
scribed  by  a  graphic  writer,  who  was  present  at 
the  opening  of  the  Convention  :  — 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  175 

"Just  as  the  great  Exposition  Building  had 
nearly  filled  up,  there  was  a  simultaneous  huzza 
throughout  the  hall  and  galleries,  and  it  speedily 
broke  out  in  a  hearty  applause.  The  tall  and  now 
silvered  plume  of  Conkling  was  visible  in  the 
aisle,  and  he  strode  down  to  his  place  at  the  head 
of  his  delegation  with  the  majesty  of  an  emperor. 
He  recognized  the  compliment  by  a  modest  bow, 
without  lifting  his  eyes  to  the  audience,  and  took 
his  seat  as  serenely  as  if  on  a  picnic  and  holiday. 
The  Grant  men  seemed  to  be  more  comfortable 
when  they  found  him  by  their  side  and  evidently 
ready  for  the  conflict. 

"Logan's  swarthy  features,  flowing  mustache, 
and  Indian  hair,  were  next  visible  on  the  eastern 
aisle,  but  he  stepped  to  the  head  of  his  delegation 
so  quietly  that  he  escaped  a  special  welcome.  He 
sat  as  if  in  sober  reflection  for  a  few  moments,  and 
then  hastened  over  to  Conkling  to  perfect  their 
counsel  on  the  eve  of  battle.  The  two  senatorial 
leaders  held  close  conference  until  the  bustle  about 
the  chair  gave  notice  that  the  opposing  lines  were 
about  to  begin  to  feel  each  other,  and  test  their 
position. 

"  Cameron  had  just  stepped  upon  the  platform 
with  the  elasticity  of  a  boy,  and  his  youthful,  but 
strongly-marked  face  was  recognized  at  once. 
There  was  no  applause.  They  all  knew  that  he 
never  plays  for  the  galleries,  and  that  cheers  are 


17G  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

wasted  upon  him.  He  quietly  sat  down  for  ten 
minutes,  although  the  time  for  calling  the  conven 
tion  to  order  had  passed  by  an  hour,  and  looked 
calmly  out  upon  the  body  so  big  with  destiny  for 
himself  and  his  Grant  associates.  As  he  passed 
by  he  was  asked,  — 

"'What  of  the  battle?' 

'  We  have  three  hundred  to  start  with,'  he  re 
plied,  f  and  we  will  work  on  till  we  win.' 

"  This  was  said  with  all  the  determination  that 
his  positive  manner  and  expression  could  add  to 
language,  and  it  summed  up  his  whole  strategy." 

George  F.  Hoar,  from  Massachusetts,  was  ap 
pointed  President  of  the  Convention ;  and  among 
the  delegates  from  Ohio,  and  enthusiastic  sup 
porters  of  Sherman,  was  General  Garfield,  thus 
described  by  a  writer  in  the  Chicago  Inter- 
Ocean  :  — 

"A  big  heart,  a  sympathetic  nature,  and  a  mind 
keenly  sensitive  to  everything  that  is  beautiful  in 
sentiment,  are  the  artists  that  shade  down  the 
gnarled  outlines  and  touch  with  soft  coloring  the 
plain  features  of  his  massive  face.  The  conception 
of  a  grand  thought  always  paints  a  glow  upon  Gar- 
field's  face,  which  no  one  forgets  who  has  seen  him 
while  speaking.  His  eyes  are  a  cold  gray,  but  they 
are  often — yes,  all  the  time  when  he  is  speaking  — 
lit  brilliantly  by  the  warm  light  of  worthy  senti 
ments,  and  the  strong  flame  of  a  great  man's  con 
viction. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  177 

w  In  speaking,  he  is  not  so  restless  as  Conkling ; 
his  speech  is  an  appeal  for  thought  and  calm  de 
liberation,  and  he  stands  still  like  the  rock  of 
judgment  while  he  delivers  it.  There  is  no  in 
vective  or  bitterness  in  his  effort,  but  there  is 
throughout  an  earnestness  of  conviction  and  an 
unquestionable  air  of  sincerity,  to  which  every 
gesture  and  intonation  of  voice  is  especially 
adapted." 

On  the  second  day  of  the  convention  a  resolu 
tion  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Conkling  that  every 
member  of  the  convention  should  support  the 
nominee,  and  that  no  one  should  hold  a  seat  who 
was  not  willing  thus  to  pledge  himself.  The  ques 
tion  was  opposed  by  several  voices,  and  when  Mr. 
Conkling  called  for  a  vote  of  the  States,  three 
delegates  from  West  Virginia  voted  in  the  nega 
tive.  Another  resolution  was  then  offered  by  Mr. 
Conkling,  who  declared  that  these  delegates  had 
forfeited  their  seats  in  the  convention. 

The  West  Virginians  asserted  that  they  were 
true  Republicans,  but  could  not,  and  would  not, 
pledge  themselves  in  this  manner.  A  hot  contest 
of  words  would  probably  have  ensued,  had  not 
Garfield  taken  the  floor  and  spoken  as  follows  :  — 

"I  fear  the  convention  is  about  to  commit  a 
grave  error.  Every  delegate,  save  three,  has 
voted  for  the  resolution,  and  the  three  gentlemen 
who  have  voted  against  it  have  risen  in  their  places 


178  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SEEVICES    OF 

and  stated  that  they  expected,  and  intended,  to 
support  the  nominee  of  the  convention,  but  that  it 
was  not,  in  their  judgment,  a  wise  thing,  at  this 
time,  to  pass  the  resolution  which  all  the  rest  of 
the  delegates  had  voted  for.  Were  they  to  be 
disfranchised  because  they  thought  so  ?  That  was 
the  question.  Was  every  delegate  to  have  his  re 
publicanism  inquired  into  before  he  was  allowed  to 
vote  ?  Delegates  were  responsible  for  their  votes, 
not  to  the  convention,  but  to  their  constituents. 
He  himself  would  never  in  any  convention  vote 
against  his  judgment.  He  regretted  that  the  gen 
tlemen  from  West  Virginia  had  thought  it  best  to 
break  the  harmony  of  the  convention  by  their  dis 
sent.  He  did  not  know  these  gentlemen,  nor  their 
affiliations,  nor  their  relations  to  the  candidates. 
If  this  convention  expelled  those  men  then  the 
convention  would  have  to  purge  itself  at  the  end 
of  every  vote  and  inquire  how  many  delegates 
who  had  voted  '  no '  should  go  out.  He  trusted 
that  the  gentleman  from  New  York  would  with 
draw  his  resolution  and  let  the  convention  proceed 
with  its  business." 

One  of  the  delegates  from  California  imme 
diately  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table, 
and  Mr.  Conkling  thereupon  withdrew  it. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  the  convention,  and  just 
after  the  Grant  men  had  set  forth  in  glowing  terms 
the  claims  of  their  candidate,  Garfield  was  called 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  179 

to   the  platform  to   represent  Ohio.      A  hearty 
cheering  greeted  him  as  he  began  :  — 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT  :  I  have  witnessed  the  ex 
traordinary  scenes  of  this  convention  with  deep 
solicitude.  No  emotion  touches  my  heart  more 
quickly  than  a  sentiment  in  honor  of  a  great  and 
noble  character.  But  as  I  sat  on  these  seats  and 
witnessed  these  demonstrations,  it  seemed  to  me 
you  were  a  human  ocean  in  a  tempest.  I  have 
seen  the  sea  lashed  into  fury  and  tossed  into  spray, 
and  its  grandeur  moves  the  soul  of  the  dullest 
man.  But  I  remember  that  it  is  not  the  billows, 
but  the  calm  level  of  the  sea  from  which  all 
heights  and  depths  are  measured.  When  the 
storm  has  passed  and  the  hour  of  calm  settles  on 
the  ocean,  when  sunlight  bathes  its  smooth  sur 
face,  then  the  astronomer  and  surveyor  takes  the 
level  from  which  he  measures  all  terrestrial  heights 
and  depths. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  convention,  your  present 
temper  may  not  mark  the  healthful  pulse  of  our 
people.  When  our  enthusiasm  has  passed,  when 
the  emotions  of  this  hour  have  subsided,  we  shall 
find  the  calm  level  of  public  opinion  below  the 
storm  from  which  the  thoughts  of  a  mighty  people 
are  to  be  measured,  and  by  which  their  final  action 
will  be  determined. 

"Not  here,  in  this  brilliant  circle  where  fifteen 


180  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

thousand  men  and  women  are  assembled,  is  the 
destiny  of  the  Republic  to  be  decreed ;  not  here, 
where  I  see  the  enthusiastic  faces  of  seven  hundred 
and  fifty-six  delegates  waiting  to  cast  their  votes 
into  the  urn  and  determine  the  choice  of  their 
party,  but  by  four  million  Republican  firesides, 
where  the  thoughtful  fathers  with  wives  and 
children  about  them,  with  the  calm  thoughts 
inspired  by  love  of  home  and  love  of  country, 
with  the  history  of  the  past,  the  hopes  of  the 
future,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  great  men  who 
have  adorned  and  blessed  our  nation  in  days  gone 
by  —  there  God  prepares  the  verdict  that  shall 
determine  the  wisdom  of  our  work  to-night.  Not 
in  Chicago  in  the  heat  of  June,  but  in  the  sober 
quiet  that  comes  between  now  and  November,  in 
the  silence  of  deliberate  judgment  will  this  great 
question  be  settled.  Let  us  aid  them  to-night. 

"But  now,  gentlemen  of  the  convention,  what 
do  we  want  ?  Twenty-five  years  ago  this  republic 
was  wearing  a  triple  chain  of  bondage.  Long 
familiarity  with  traffic  in  the  bodies  and  souls  of 
men  had  paralyzed  the  consciences  of  a  majority 
of  our  people.-  The  baleful  doctrine  of  State 
sovereignty  had  shocked  and  weakened  the  noblest 
and  most  beneficent  powers  of  the  national  govern 
ment,  and  the  grasping  power  of  slavery  was 
seizing  the  virgin  territories  of  the  West  and  drag 
ging  them  into  the  den  of  eternal  bondage.  At 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  181 

that  crisis  the  Republican  party  was  born.  It 
drew  its  first  inspiration  from  that  fire  of  liberty 
which  God  has  lighted  in  every  man's  heart,  and 
which  all  the  powers  of  ignorance  and  tyranny  can 
never  wholly  extinguish. 

"  The  Republican  party  came  to  deliver  and 
save  the  republic.  It  entered  the  arena  when  the 
beleaguered  and  assailed  territories  were  struggling 
for  freedom,  and  drew  around  them  the  sacred 
circle  of  liberty  which  the  demon  of  slavery  has 
never  dared  to  cross.  It  made  them  free  forever. 

"  Strengthened  by  its  victory  on  the  frontier, 
the  young  party,  under  the  leadership  of  that 
great  man  who,  on  this  spot,  twenty  years  ago, 
was  made  its  leader,  entered  the  national  capital 
and  assumed  the  high  duties  of  the  government. 
The  light  which  shone  from  its  banner  dispelled 
the  darkness  in  which  slavery  had  enshrouded  the 
capital,  and  melted  the  shackles  of  every  slave,  and 
consumed  in  the  fire  of  liberty  every  slave-pen 
within  the  shadow  of  the  capitol. 

"  Our  national  industries  by  an  impoverishing 
policy,  were  themselves  prostrated,  and  the  streams 
of  revenue  flowed  in  such  feeble  currents  that  the 
treasury  itself  was  well-nigh  empty.  The  money 
of  the  people  was  the  wretched  notes  of  two 
thousand  uncontrolled  and  irresponsible  state  bank 
ing  corporations,  which  were  filling  the  country 
with  a  circulation  that  poisoned  rather  than  sus- 


182  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

tained  the  life  of  business.  The  Republican  party 
changed  all  this.  It  abolished  the  babel  of  con 
fusion,  and  gave  the  country  a  currency  as  national 
as  its  flag,  based  upon  the  sacred  faith  of  the 
people.  It  threw  its  protecting  arm  around  our 
great  industries,  and  they  stood  erect  as  with  new 
life.  It  filled  with  the  spirit  of  true  nationality 
all  the  great  functions  of  the  government.  It  con 
fronted  a  rebellion  of  unexampled  magnitude, 
with  slavery  behind  it,  and,  under  God,  fought  the 
final  battle  of  liberty  until  victory  was  won. 
Then,  after  the  storms  of  battle  were  heard  the 
sweet,  calm  words  of  peace  uttered  by  the  con 
quering  nation,  and  saying  to  the  conquered  foe 
that  lay  prostrate  at  its  feet, — 

'  This  is  our  only  revenge,  that  you  join  us  in 
lifting  to  the  serene  firmament  of  the  Constitution, 
to  shine  like  stars  forever  and  ever,  the  immortal 
principles  of  truth  and  justice,  that  all  men,  white 
or  black,  shall  be  free  and  stand  equal  before  the 
law/ 

"Then  came  the  question  of  reconstruction,  the 
public  debt,  and  the  public  faith.  In  the  settle 
ment  of  the  questions  the  Republican  party  has 
completed  its  twenty-five  years  of  glorious  exist 
ence,  and  it  has  sent  us  here  to  prepare  it  for 
another  lustrum  of  duty  and  of  victory.  How 
shall  we  do  this  great  work?  We  cannot  do  it, 
my  friends,  by  assailing  our  Republican  brethren. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  183 

God  forbid  that  I  should  say  one  word  to  cast  a 
shadow  upon  any  name  on  the  roll  of  our  heroes. 

"This  coming  fight  is  our  Thermopylae.  We 
are  standing  upon  a  narrow  isthmus.  If  our 
Spartan  hosts  are  united,  we  can  withstand  all  the 
Persians  that  the  Xerxes  of  Democracy  can  bring 
against  us.  Let  us  hold  our  ground  this  one  year, 
for  the  stars  in  their  courses  fight  for  us  in  the 
future.  The  census  taken  this  year  will  bring 
reinforcements  and  continued  power.  But  in 
order  to  win  this  victory  now,  we  want  the  vote  of 
every  Republican,  of  every  Grant  Republican,  and 
every  anti-Grant  Republican  in  America,  of  every 
Elaine  man  and  anti-Blaine  man.  The  vote  of 
every  follower  of  every  candidate  is  needed  to 
make  our  success  certain  ;  therefore,  I  say,  gentle 
men  and  brethren,  we  are  here  to  take  calm  coun 
sel  together,  and  inquire  what  we  shall  do. 

"  We  want  a  man  whose  life  and  opinions  em 
body  all  the  achievements  of  which  I  have  spoken. 
We  want  a  man  who,  standing  on  a  mountain 
height,  sees  all  the  achievements  of  our  past  history, 
and  carries  in  his  heart  the  memory  of  all  its 
glorious  deeds,  and  who,  looking  forward,  prepares 
to  meet  the  labor  and  the  dangers  to  come.  We 
want  one  who  will  act  in  no  spirit  of  unkindness 
towards  those  we  lately  met  in  battle.  The  Repub 
lican  party  offers  to  our  brethren  of  the  South  the 
olive-branch  of  peace,  and  wishes  them  to  return 


184  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

to  brotherhood,  on  this  supreme  condition,  that  it 
shall  be  admitted  forever  and  forevermore,  that  in 
the  war  for  the  Union,  we  were  right  and  they 
were  wrong.  On  that  supreme  condition  we  meet 
them  as  brothers,  and  on  no  other.  We  ask  them 
to  share  with  us  the  blessings  and  honors  of  this 
great  republic. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  not  to  weary  you,  lam  about 
to  present  a  name  for  your  consideration — the 
name  of  a  man  who  was  the  comrade  and  associate 
and  friend  of  nearly  all  those  noble  dead  whose 
faces  look  down  upon  us  from  these  walls  to-night ; 
a  man  who  began  his  career  of  public  service 
twenty-five  years  ago ;  whose  first  duty  was  cour 
ageously  done  in  the  days  of  peril  on  the  plains  of 
Kansas,  when  the  first  red  drops  of  that  bloody 
shower  began  to  fall  which  finally  swelled  into  the 
deluge  of  war.  He  bravely  stood  by  young 
Kansas  then,  and,  returning  to  his  duty  in  the 
National  Legislature,  through  all  subsequent  time 
his  pathway  has  been  marked  by  labors  performed 
in  every  department  of  legislation. 

"You  ask  for  his  monuments.  I  point  you  to 
twenty-five  years  of  national  statutes.  Not  one 
great  beneficent  measure  has  been  placed  in  our 
statute  books  without  his  intelligent  and  powerful 
aid.  He  aided  these  men  to  formulate  the  laws  that 
raised  our  great  armies  and  carried  us  through  the 
war.  His  hand  was  seen  in  the  workmanship  of 


JAMES    A.   GAKFIELD.  185 

those  statutes  that  restored  and  brought  back 
the  unity  and  calm  of  the  States.  His  hand 
was  in  all  that  great  legislation  that  created  the 
war  currency,  and  in  a  still  greater  work  that  re 
deemed  the  promises  of  the  government  and  made 
the  currency  equal  to  gold.  And  when  at  last 
called  from  the  halls  of  legislation  into  a  high 
executive  office,  he  displayed  that  experience, 
intelligence,  firmness  and  poise  of  character  which 
has  carried  us  through  a  stormy  period  of  three 
years.  With  one-half  the  public  press  crying 
'  Crucify  him,'  and  a  hostile  Congress  seeking  to 
prevent  success,  in  all  this  he  remained  unmoved 
until  victory  crowned  him. 

"The  great  fiscal  affairs  of  the  nation,  and  the 
great  business  interests  of  the  country  he  has 
guarded  and  preserved,  while  executing  the  law  of 
resumption  and  effecting  its  object  without  a  jar 
and  against  the  false  prophecies  of  one-half  of  the 
press  and  all  the  Democracy  of  this  continent.  He 
has  shown  himself  able  to  meet  with  calmness  the 
great  emergencies  of  the  government  for  twenty- 
five  years.  He  has  trodden  the  perilous  heights 
of  public  duty,  and  against  all  the  shafts  of  malice 
has  borne  his  breast  unharmed.  He  has  stood  in 
the  blaze  of  '  that  fierce  light  that  beats  against  the 
throne,'  but  its  fiercest  ray  has  found  no  flaw  in  his 
armor,  no  stain  on  his  shield.  I  do  not  present 
him  as  a  better  Eepublican  or  as  a  better  man  than 


186  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

thousands  of  others  we  honor,  but  I  present  him 
for  your  deliberate  consideration.  I  nominate 
John  Sherman,  of  Ohio." 

Of  this  powerful  speech,  that  was  constantly 
interrupted  by  storms  of  applause,  Whitelaw 
Reid  said,  — 

"  It  was  admirably  adapted  to  make  votes  for 
his  candidate,  if  speeches  ever  made  votes.  It 
was  courteous,  conciliatory,  and  prudent." 

The  editor  of  the  Chicago  Journal  wrote  as 
follows :  — 

tf  The  supreme  orator  of  the  evening  was  Gen 
eral  Garfield.  He  is  a  man  of  superb  power  and 
noble  character.  .  .  .  He  indulged  in  no  fling 
at  others.  It  was  a  model  speech  in  temper  and 
tone.  The  impression  made  was  powerful  and 
altogether  wholesome.  Many  felt  that  if  Ohio  had 
offered  Garfield  instead  of  Sherman,  she  would 
have  been  more  likely  to  win." 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  187 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Battle  still  Undecided.  —  Sunday  among  the  Delegates.  —  Gar- 
field's  Remark.  —  Monday  another  Day  of  Doubt. — The  Dark 
Horse.  —  The  Balloting  on  Tuesday.  —  Garfield's  Remonstrance. 
—  He  is  Unanimously  Elected  on  the  Thirty-sixth  Ballot.  —  En 
thusiastic  Demonstrations,  Congratulatory  Speeches  and  Tele 
grams.  —  His  Speech  of  Acceptance. 

GARFIELD'S  eloquent  speech  was  followed  by 
one  from  Mr.  Billings,  of  Vermont,  who  proposed 
Senator  Edmunds  as  a  nominee.  Mr.  Cassidy, 
of  Wisconsin,  presented  the  name  of  Elihu  B. 
Washburne,  of  Illinois,  and  was  seconded  by  Mr. 
Brandagee,  of  Connecticut. 

The  battle  was  waged  in  this  manner  until 
a  late  hour  on  Saturday  evening.  Many  of  the 
delegates  wanted  to  continue  the  balloting  after 
midnight,  and  some  urged  the  chairman,  Judge 
Hoar,  to  ignore  the  Sabbath  and  let  the  conven 
tion  go  on. 

"  Never  !  "  he  replied  ;  "  this  is  a  Sabbath-keep 
ing  nation,  and  I  cannot  preside  over  this  conven 
tion  one  minute  after  twelve." 

Garfield  attended  church  in  the  morning,  and 
dined  with  Marshall  Field.  The  conversation  at 


188  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

table  turned  upon  the  dead-lock  in  the  convention 
and  the  quietus  at  Washington,  where  every  one 
was  waiting  for  further  developments. 

Addressing  the  friend  who  sat  beside  him,  Gar- 
field  said, — 

"  Yes,  this  is  a  day  of  suspense,  but  it  is  also  a 
day  of  prayer;  and  I  have  more  faith  in  the 
prayers  that  will  go  up  from  Christian  hearts  to 
day,  than  I  have  in  all  the  political  tactics  which 
will  prevail  at  this  convention." 

When  President  Hoar  called  the  convention  to 
order  on  Monday  morning,  an  anxious  crowd 
hastily  took  their  seats  and  prepared  for  the 
coming  battle.  Eighteen  ballots  were  cast  during 
the  day  and  ten  more  in  the  evening,  with  no  de 
cisive  result.  The  weather  was  extremely  hot, 
but  the  hall  was  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and 
at  each  roll-call  the  whole  twelve  thousand  would 
simultaneously  rise  to  their  feet  with  a  noise  like 
the  roar  of  thunder.  It  was  late  at  night  before 
the  convention  broke  up,  and  some  of  the  dele 
gates  did  not  retire  at  all. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  a  pencilled  note,  it  is  said, 
passed  from  Conkling  to  Garfield,  which  read  as 
follows :  — 

"  MY  DEAR  GARFIELD,  —  If  there  is  to  be  a  dark  horse 
in  this  convention  there  is  no  man  I  would  prefer  before 
yourself.  CONKLING." 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  189 

The  reply  was, — 

"My  DEAR  CONKLING, —  There  will  be  no  dark  horse 
in  this  convention.  I  am  for  Sherman. 

J.  A.  GARFIELD." 

By  the  time  the  thirty- fourth  ballot  was  cast, 
however,  it  began  to  be  very  evident  that  a  "  break  " 
was  imminent.  Wisconsin  gave  thirty-six  votes 
for  Garfield,  Connecticut  followed  with  eleven 
more,  Illinois  gave  seven,  and  Indiana  twenty-nine. 

Garfield  immediately  rose  to  his  feet  and  said  he 
had  refused  to  have  his  name  announced  and  voted 
for  in  the  convention. 

"I  have  not  given  my  consent" — he  began; 
but  amidst  much  laughter  the  chairman  interrupted, 
and  said  the  gentleman  was  not  stating  a  question 
of  order. 

The  enthusiasm  for  the  new  candidate  now  rose 
to  its  highest  pitch.  When  the  thirty-sixth  ballot 
was  called,  Sherman  and  the  Ohio  delegation,  with 
the  New  York  anti-Grant  men,  led  off  in  a  grand 
burst  of  applause  for  Garfield.  One  after  another 
the  States  transferred  their  votes  to  him,  till  at 
last  Wisconsin  completed  the  majority. 

Before  the  roll  was  called  a  salute  of  guns  was 
fired  in  the  park  outside,  the  galleries  sprang  to 
their  feet,  and  the  wildest  scene  of  excitement 
followed. 

Each  delegation  had  its  State  banner,  and,  with 


190  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Massachusetts  at  the  head,  an  impromptu  pro 
cession  was  formed  that  marched  over  to  the  Ohio 
delegation  and  placed  all  the  standards  by  the  side 
of  Garfield.  The  military  band  in  the  hall  then 
struck  up,  "Rally  round  the  Flag,"  and  the  whole 
immense  audience  enthusiastically  joined  in  the 
stirring  song. 

"  I  shall  never  forget,"  writes  an  eye-witness, 
ff  the  expression  of  Garfield's  face  at  the  time  that 
delegation  after  delegation  was  breaking  from  its 
moorings  and  going  over  to  him.  I  scanned  him 
with  intense  curiosity  as  he  listened  to  the  call  of 
States,  and  the  certain  coming  of  his  nomination. 
His  cheeks  had  a  flush  upon  them,  and  there  was 
a  far-away  expression  in  his  eyes  as  he  listened  to 
the  responses  of  the  chairman,  as  if  he  was  com 
muning  with  the  future.  I  can  see  his  face  at  this 
moment  as  plainly  as  I  saw  it  then,  and  I  ask  my 
self  now  whether  as  he  swept  the  horizon  of  the 
future  with  his  mind's  eye,  could  he  possibly  have 
had  a  glimpse  of  the  dark  apparition  that  was  even 
then  being  invoked  into  life.  He  looked  anxious, 
almost  troubled." 

When  the  President  of  the  convention  an 
nounced  that  James  A.  Garfield  of  Ohio  had 
received  three  hundred  and  ninety-nine  ballots, 
the  majority  of  the  whole  votes  cast,  Senator 
Conkling  arose  and  said, — 

"  I  move  that  he  be  unanimously  presented  as 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  191 

the  nominee  of  the  convention.  The  Chair,  under 
the  rules,  anticipated  me,  but  being  on  my  feet, 
I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  to  congratulate 
the  Republican  party  of  the  nation  on  the  good- 
natured  and  well-tempered  disposition  that  has 
distinguished  this  animated  convention. 

"I  trust  that  the  fervor  and  unanimity  of  the 
scenes  of  the  convention  will  be  transplanted  to 
the  field  of  the  country,  and  all  of  us  who  have 
borne  a  part  against  each  other  here  will  be  found 
with  equal  zeal,  bearing  the  banners  and  carrying 
the  lances  of  the  Republican  party  into  the  ranks 
of  the  enemy." 

Senator  Logan  followed  Conkling  in  a  similar 
congratulatory  speech ;  and  Eugene  Hale,  the 
defeated  leader  of  the  Elaine  forces,  said  :  — 

"  Standing  here  to  return  our  heartfelt  thanks  to 
the  many  men  in  this  convention  who  have  aided 
us  in  the  fight  that  we  made  for  the  senator  from 
Maine,  and  speaking  for  them  here,  as  I  know 
that  I  do,  I  say  this  most  heartily :  We  have  not 
got  the  man  whom  we  hoped  to  nominate  when  we 
came  here,  but  we  have  got  a  man  in  whom  we 
have  the  greatest  and  most  marked  confidence. 
The  nominee  of  this  convention  is  no  new  and 
untried  man,  and  in  that  respect  he  is  no  'dark 
horse.'  When  he  came  here,  representing  his 
State  in  the  front  of  his  delegation  and  was  seen 
here,  every  man  knew  him  because  of  his  record ; 


192  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

and  because  of  that  and  because  of  our  faith  in 
him,  and  because  we  were  in  me  emergency,  glad 
to  help  make  him  the  candidate  of  the  Republican 
party  for  President  of  the  United  States, — because, 
I  say,  of  these  things,  I  stand  here  to  pledge  the 
Maine  forces  in  this  convention  to  earnest  effort 
until  the  ides  of  November,  to  help  to  carry  him  to 
the  presidential  chair." 

Short  speeches  followed  from  members  of  the 
other  delegations  and  the  nomination  of  James  A. 
Garfield  was  declared  unanimous. 

While  shaking  hands  with  the  crowd  that  gath 
ered  around  him,  Garfield  turned  to  a  correspond 
ent  of  the  Cleveland  Herald  and  said  gravely  :  — 

"I  wish  you  would  say  that  this  is  no  act  of 
mine.  I  wish  you  would  say  that  I  have  done 
everything  and  omitted  nothing  to  secure  Secretary 
Sherman's  nomination.  I  want  it  plainly  under 
stood  that  I  have  not  sought  this  nomination,  and 
have  protested  against  the  use  of  my  name.  If 
Senator  Hoar  had  permitted,  I  would  have  for 
bidden  anybody  to  vote  for  me.  But  he  took  me 
off  my  feet  before  I  had  said  what  I  intended.  I 
am  very  sorry  it  has  occurred,  but  if  my  position 
is  fully  explained,  a  nomination,  coming  unsought 
and  unexpected  like  this,  will  be  the  crowning 
gratification  of  my  life." 

Before  nominating  the  Vice-President,  the  con 
vention  took  a  short  recess,  and  Garfield  attempted 


JAMES    A,.    GARFIELD.  193 

to  leave  the  hall.  He  was  immediately  surrounded, 
however,  by  an  enthusiastic  crowd,  who  followed 
him  to  the  door  and  tried  to  take  the  horses  off 
his  carriage  that  they  might  draw  it  themselves. 

A  serenade  followed  at  the  Grand  Pacific  Hotel, 
but  Garfield  declined  to  respond  to  the  ovation 
further  than  to  give  his  thanks.  More  than  six 
hundred  congratulatory  telegrams  were  received 
during  the  evening,  among  the  most  notable  of 
which  were  the  following  :  — 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON, 

June  8th,  1880. 
To  General  James  A.  Garfield  : 

You  will  receive  no  heartier  congratulations  to-day  than 
mine.  This  both  for  your  own  and  your  country's  sake. 

(Signed)  R.  B.  HAYES. 

WASHINGTON,  June  8th,  1880. 
Hon.  James  A.  Garfield,  Chicago : 

I  congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart  upon  your  nomina 
tion  as  President  of  the  United  States.    You  have  saved  the 
Republican  party  and  the  country  from  a  great  peril,  and 
assured  the  continued  success  of  Republican  principles. 
(Signed)  JOHN  SHERMAN. 

"  The  vote  of  Maine  just  cast  for  you  is  given  you  with 
my  hearty  concurrence.  I  assure  you  of  my  belief  that 
you  will  have  a  glorious  victory  in  November. 

JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 

MILWAUKEE,  June  8th,  1880. 

"  Glamis  thou  art,  and  Cawdor,  and  shalt  be  what  thou 
art  promised."  LAWRENCE  BARRETT. 


194  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

WASHINGTON,  June  8th  1 880. 

"  Accept  my  hearty  congratulations.  The  country  is  to 
be  congratulated  as  well  as  yourself.  C.  SCHURZ. 

Similar  dispatches  were  received  from  other 
members  of  the  cabinet,  and  from  various  senators 
and  representatives  at  Washington.  When  Gen- 
'eral  Grant  heard  the  news  he  said,  "It  is  all  right  — 
I  am  satisfied." 

At  the  earnest  request  of  the  delegates,  an 
informal  reception  was  held  at  the  Grand  Pacific, 
and  near  midnight  Garfield  responded  to  the  com 
mittee  appointed  to  notify  him  officially  of  his 
nomination,  as  follows  :  — 

"MR.  CHAIRMEN  AND  GENTLEMEN, — I  assure 
you  that  the  information  you  have  officially  given 
me  brings  a  sense  of  very  grave  responsibility, 
and  especially  so  in  view  of  the  fact  that  I  was 
a  member  of  your  body,  a  fact  that  could  not 
have  existed  with  propriety  had  I  had  the  slightest 
expectation  that  my  name  would  be  connected 
with  the  nomination  for  the  office.  I  have  felt 
with  you  great  solicitude  concerning  the  situation 
of  our  party  during  the  struggle,  but  believing 
that  you  are  correct  in  assuring  me  that  substantial 
unity  has  been  reached  in  the  conclusion,  it 
gives  me  gratification  far  greater  than  any  personal 
pleasure  your  announcement  can  bring. 

"I  accept  the  trust  committed  to  my  hands.    As 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  195 

to  the  work  of  our  party  and  the  character  of  the 
campaign  to  be  entered  upon,  I  will  take  an  early 
occasion  .to  reply  more  fully  than  I  can  properly 
do  to-night.  I  thank  you  for  the  assurances  of 
confidence  and  esteem  you  have  presented  to  me, 
and  hope  we  shall  see  our  future  as  promising  as 
are  the  indications  to-night." 

In  a  similar  manner  Senator  Hoar  and  the  com 
mittee  officially  apprized  General  Arthur  of  his 
nomination  to  the  Vice-Presidency ;  his  acceptance 
was  given  in  a  brief  informal  speeeh,  but  it  was 
not  till  the  "  small  hours  "  that  the  excited  crowds 
began  to  disperse. 


196  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

Return  Home.  —  Ovations  on  the  Way.  —  Address  at  Hiram  Institute. 
—  Impromptu  Speech  at  Washington.  —  Incident  of  the  Eagle.  — 
The  Tract  Distributor. 

THE  next  morning,  Garfield  left  Chicago  for  his 
home  in  Mentor.  The  journey  thither  was  one 
continual  scene  of  ovations.  An  immense  throng 
followed  him  from  the  hotel  to  the  station,  and  a 
large  committee  from  Cleveland  met  the  train  at 
Elyria. 

As  the  car  containing  Garfield  and  Governor 
Foster  of  Ohio,  entered  the  depot  at  Cleveland,  a 
salute  of  a  thousand  guns  was  fired.  A  procession 
of  the  militia  and  the  Garfield  clubs  accompanied 
them  to  the  Kennard  House,  and  among  the  trans 
parencies  borne  by  the  crowd  was  one  with  the 
happy  inscription :  — 

"  Ohio's  senator,  Ohio's  Major-General,  Ohio's  President. 
The  true  favorite  son  of  Ohio  is  the  favorite  son  of  the 
Union.  He  who  at  the  age  of  sixteen  steered  a  canal-boat 
will  steer  the  ship  of  state  at  fifty." 

Garfield  had  promised  to  deliver  an  address  at 
the  commencement  exercises  of  Hiram  College. 


JAMES    A.  GAEFIELD.  197 

The  morning  after  his  arrival  in  Cleveland,  there 
fore,  he  left  as  quietly  as  possible  for  the  little 
town,  where  thirty  years  before  he  had  held  the 
humble  position  of  college  janitor. 

"I  have  sought  but  one  office  in  my  life,"  he  said 
one  day  to  a  friend,  "and  that  was  the  office  of 
janitor  at  Hiram  Institute." 

As  he  approached  the  college  grounds  the 
students  came  out  in  a  body  to  greet  him.  It  was 
a  touching  scene,  and  his  beautiful  address  to  them 
is  given  in  full,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  volume.* 
With  all  his  honors  he  never  forgot  this  place  so 
"  full  of  memories." 

After  a  short  stay  at  Hiram,  he  went  on  to  his 
home  in  Mentor,  to  take  a  few  days'  rest  before 
returning  to  Washington. 

His  address  to  the  enthusiastic  crowds  that 
gathered  around  him  when  he  reached  the  Capi 
tol,  is  so  full  of  his  peculiar  magnetic  power  that 
we  give  it  entire  :  — 

"FELLOW-CITIZENS  : — While  I  have  looked  upon 
this  great  array,  I  believe  I  have  gotten  a  new  idea 
of  the  majesty  of  the  American  people. 

"  When  I  reflect  that  whenever  you  find  sovereign 
power,  every  reverent  heart  on  this  earth  bows 
before  it,  and  when  I  remember  that  here  for  a 
hundred  years  we  have  denied  the  sovereignty  of 

*  See  page  478. 


198  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

any  man,  and  in  place  of  it  we  have  asserted  the 
sovereignty  of  all  in  place  of  one,  I  see  before  me 
so  vast  a  concourse  it  is  easy  for  me  to  imagine 
that  were  the  rest  of  the  American  people  gathered 
here  to-night,  every  man  would  stand  uncovered, 
all  in  unsandalled  feet  in  presence  of  the  majesty 
of  the  only  sovereign  power  in  this  Government 
under  Almighty  God. 

"And  therefore  to  this  great  audience  I  pay  the 
respectful  homage  that  in  part  belongs  to  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people.  I  thank  you  for  this 
great  and  glorious  demonstration.  I  am  not,  for 
one  moment,  misled  into  believing  that  it  refers  to 
so  poor  a  thing  as  any  one  of  our  number.  I 
know  it  means  your  reverence  for  your  Govern 
ment,  your  reverence  for  its  laws,  your  reverence 
for  its  institutions,  and  your  compliment  to  one 
who  is  placed  for  a  moment  in  relations  to  you  of 
peculiar  importance.  For  all  these  reasons  I  thank 
you. 

"  I  cannot  at  this  time  utter  a  word  on  the  sub 
ject  of  general  politics.  I  would  not  mar  the 
cordiality  of  this  welcome,  to  which  to  some 
extent  all  are  gathered,  by  any  reference  except  to 
the  present  moment  and  its  significance ;  but  I 
wish  to  say  that  a  large  portion  of  this  assemblage 
to-night  are  my  comrades,  late  of  the  war  for  the 
Union.  For  them  I  can  speak  with  entire  pro 
priety,  and  can  say  that  these  very  streets  heard 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  199 

the  measured  tread  of  your  disciplined  feet,  years 
ago,  when  the  imperilled  Republic  needed  your 
hands  and  your  hearts  to  save  it,  and  you  came 
back  with  your  numbers  decimated ;  but  those  you 
left  behind  were  immortal  and  glorified  heroes  for 
ever  ;  and  those  you  brought  back  came,  carrying 
under  tattered  banners  and  in  bronzed  hands  the  ark 
of  the  covenant  of  your  Republic  in  safety  out  of 
the  bloody  baptism  of  the  war,  and  you  brought  it 
in  safety  to  be  saved  forever  by  your  valor  and  the 
wisdom  of  your  brethren  who  were  at  home,  and 
by  this  you  were  again  added  to  the  great  civil 
army  of  the  Republic. 

"  I  greet  you,  comrades  and  fellow-soldiers,  and 
the  great  body  of  distinguished  citizens  who  are- 
gathered  here  to-night,  who  are  the  strong  stay  and 
support  of  the  business,  of  the  prosperity,  of  the 
peace,  of  the  civic  ardor  and  glory  of  the  Republic, 
and  I  thank  you  for  your  welcome  to-night. 

"  It  was  said  in  a  welcome  to  one  who  came  to 
England  to  be  a  part  of  her  glory  —  and  all  the 
nation  spoke  when  it  was  said,  — 

"  '  Normans  and  Saxons  and  Danes  are  we, 
But  all  of  us  Danes  in  our  welcome  of  thee/ 

"  And  we  say  to-night  of  all  nations,  of  all  the 
people,  soldiers,  and  civilians,  there  is  one  name 
that  welds  us  all  into  one.  It  is  the  name  of 
American  citizen,  under  the  union  and  under  the 


200  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

glory  of  the  flag  that  led  us  to  victory  and  peace. 
For  this  magnificent  welcome  I  thank  you  with  all 
my  heart." 

A  singular  incident  occurred  in  Washington, 
upon  the  day  of  Garfield's  nomination  at  Chicago. 
Almost  at  the  very  moment  the  ballot  was  cast,  a 
large  bald  eagle  circled  around  the  Park,  and 
finally  swooped  down  and  rested  upon  the  little 
house  on  the  corner  of  I  and  Thirteenth  Streets. 

It  was  seen  by  Mr.  George  W.  Rose,  Garfield's 
private  stenographer,  who  occupied  the  house 
during  his  absence,  and  he  says  that  "before  the 
eagle  rose  from  its  strange  perch  a  dozen  people 
had  noticed  and  commented  upon  it." 

Another  curious  coincident  is  worthy  of  notice. 
On  that  memorable  Tuesday  morning  as  Garfield 
entered  the  Exposition  building,  where  the  conven 
tion  was  assembled,  a  slip  of  paper  was  thrust  into 
his  hand  by  a  tract  distributor. 

He  put  it  mechanically  into  his  pocket  without 
reading,  and  was  not  a  little  astonished  that  even 
ing  when  it  dropped  out  and  he  found  upon  it  these 
words :  — 

"  This  is  the  stone  which  was  set  at  naught  of 
you  builders,  which  is  become  the  head  of  the  cor 
ner  ;  neither  is  there  salvation  in  any  other.  " 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  201 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

News  of  the  Nomination  Received  with  Delight.  —  Mr.  Robeson  speaks 
for  the  Democrats  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  —  Ratification 
Meeting  at  Williams  College.  —  Governor  Long's  Opinion.  — 
Hotly-contested  Campaign.  —  Garfield  Receives  the  Majority  of 
Votes. —  Is  Elected  President  on  the  Second  of  November,  1880. 
—  Extract  from  Letter  of  an  Old  Pupil.  —  Review  of  Garfield's 
Congressional  Life.  —  His  own  Feelings  in  Regard  to  the  Election. 

THE  news  of  the  nomination  at  Chicago  was 
received  with  unfeigned  delight  throughout  the 
country.  In  the  House  of  Representatives  at 
Washington,  Mr.  Robeson,  by  request,  spoke  for 
the  Democrats  as  well  as  the  Republicans,  in  terms 
of  the  highest  commendation  of  the  new  nominee  ; 
and  three  hearty  cheers  were  given  for  him  by 
both  parties. 

A  ratification  meeting  was  immediately  held  at 
Williams  College,  and  the  excited  students  sang  as 
a  chorus  to  "  Marching  through  Georgia  :  " 

"Hurrah!  hurrah!  we'll  shout  for  General  G.! 
Hurrah!  hurrah!  a  Williams  man  was  he, 
And  so  we'll  sing  the  chorus  from  old  Williams  to  the  sea, 
And  we'll  cast  a  vote  for  Garfield! " 

Governor  Long,  of  Massachusetts,  when  asked 
his  opinion  of  the  nomination,  said,  — 


202  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

tr  I  feel  an  especial  pride  and  satisfaction  in  the 
nomination  of  Garfield,  as  I  have  both  desired  and 
publicly  urged  it  from  the  first. 

"  I  regard  General  Garfield  as  a  representative 
Republican,  a  sound  statesman,  a  thorough  scholar, 
and  with  that  good  record  as  a  soljller  which  never 
yet  has  failed  to  be  a  claim  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
American  people.  I  regard  it  as  felicitous  in 
General  Garfield  that,  like  so  many  of  his  prede 
cessors,  he  sprang  from  the  humbler  walks  of  life, 
and,  by  his  own  efforts,  has  made  his  own  way  to 
eminence,  and  is  not  identified  as  the  special  repre 
sentative  of  wealth  or  any  great  controlling  in 
terests. 

"  As  a  representative  from  the  old  Joshua  Gid- 
dings  district,  he  has  stood  from  the  first  as  an 
exponent  of  equal  rights,  and  he  has  been  an 
advocate  of  honest  money  in  the  days  when  it  cost 
something  to  face  the  f  Ohio  idee.'  Add  to  this 
his  high  personal  character,  his  purity  and  integ 
rity,  and  yet  his  entire  approachableness,  and  you 
have  an  ideal  candidate  who  commends  himself  to 
every  good  element  in  the  party  and  welds  it  firmly 
together  again,  and  whose  nomination  is  his  elec 
tion." 

The  press  were  remarkably  unanimous  in  their 
praise  of  Garfield.  Even  the  Southern  papers 
seemed  pleased  with  the  nomination,  and  the  New 
Orleans  Times  said,  — 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  203 

"Garfield  is  a  very  fair  representative  of  the 
better  element  of  the  Republican  party,  superior 
to  most  of  his  competitors  at  Chicago  in  mental 
force,  and  equal  to  them  in  other  essential  at 
tributes." 

When  the  Democratic  candidate  for  President 
was  announced,  and  the  strong  names  of  Hancock 
and  English  were  pitted  against  those  of  Garfield 
and  Arthur,  a  close  contest  was  anticipated.  And 
the  hot  campaign  that  followed  will  long  be  re 
membered  in  the  annals  of  our  country. 

Some  of  the  states  that  had  been  securely 
counted  upon  by  the  Republicans,  went  over  to 
the  Democrats ;  but,  when  the  final  returns  were 
given  on  the  second  day  of  November,  1880,  it 
was  found  that  Garfield  had  carried  twenty  of 
the  thirty-eight  states,  receiving  two  hundred  and 
fourteen  of  the  electoral  votes,  while  Hancock 
had  but  one  hundred  and  fifty-five. 

One  of  Garfield' s  old  pupils,  upon  hearing  the 
news,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  New  York  as  follows  :  — 

"We  of  'old  Portage  County,'  where  his  ability 
was  first  recognized,  and  from  which  no  delegate 
to  any  convention  where  his  name  has  been  pre 
sented  ever  voted  against  him,  knowing  him  well 
and  trusting  him  fully,  rejoice  with  exceeding  joy 
in  the  results  of  Tuesday's  election.  .  .  .  We  be 
lieve  no  manlier  man  ever  headed  a  ticket  for  the 
office.  He  is  as  pure  as  Washington,  as  brave  as 


204  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Jackson,  as  humane  as  Lincoln,  and  as  grand  and 
able  as  Daniel  Webster.  He  is  broad  enough  for 
the  whole  country,  and  sectionalism  will  find  no 
sympathy  in  him." 

The  editor  of  a  leading  Boston  paper  wrote  the 
following  fine  review  of  Garfield's  congressional 
life:  — 

"  The  election  of  General  Garfield  to  the  office 
of  President  is,  in  some  sense,  a  departure  from 
the  custom  of  the  country.  He  is  the  first  man 
who  has  had  long  and  thorough  experience  in  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  government,  holding  for 
many  years  the  position  of  a  leader  of  a  party 
both  while  in  power  and  while  out  of  power,  and, 
consequently,  thoroughly  familiar  with  all  the 
business  of  the  nation,  who  has  been  raised  to 
the  Presidential  office.  It  had  almost  come  to  be 
thought  that  no  man  could  go  directly  from  Con 
gress  to  the  Presidency. 

"  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect  that  the  ad 
ministration  of  General  Garfield  will  be  marked  by 
some  peculiar  features  dependent  upon  these  con 
ditions.  For  eighteen  years  he  has  been  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives,  all  the  time 
a  conspicuously  active  member,  and  a  large  part 
of  the  time  a  recognized  leader.  He  has  served 
on  all  the  more  important  committees,  and  been 
chairman  of  several.  He  has  been  a  close  and 
eager  student  of  the  theory  and  the  practice  of  our 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  205 

form  of  government,  at  once  a  philosophical  states 
man,  a  shrewd,  practical  politician,  and  an  accom 
plished  debater  of  legislative  measures.  His  char 
acter,  his  accomplishments,  his  position,  his  tastes, 
have  favored  and  compelled  him  to  form  personal 
acquaintance  with  all  classes  of  influential  men,  so 
that  probably  there  is  not  in  the  country  another 
who  has  so  extensive  a  circle  of  acquaintances 
among  men  who  are  potent  in  forming  and  direct 
ing  public  opinion. 

"  Every  great  interest  of  American  life  knows 
that  he  has  sounded  it,  and  apprehends  and  appre 
ciates  'its  capacity.  In  church,  and  college,  and 
market,  and  among  the  plain  people  who  toil  in 
shops  and  fields,  he  is  regarded  as  a  friend  who 
has  regarded  their  necessities  and  spoken  and 
labored  in  their  cause. 

"  There  is  not  a  policy  of  administration  which 
he  has  not  analyzed ;  there  is  not  a  depart 
ment  of  the  public  service  with  the  scope  and 
work  of  which  he  is  not  acquainted.  He  will 
come  to  his  office  better  equipped  for  intelligent 
conduct  of  national  affairs  than  any  man  who  has 
preceded  him  for  two  generations  at  least,  and  the 
best  part  of  his  equipment  is  his  broad,  hopeful 
faith  in  freedom,  equal  rights,  and  impartial  jus 
tice  as  the  safe  conditions  of  progress." 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  spontaneous  burst  of 
enthusiasm,  Garfield  himself  writes  to  a  friend, — 


206  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  I  believe  all  my  friends  are  more  gratified  with 
the  personal  part  of  my  triumph  than  I  am,  and, 
although  I  am  proud  of  the  noble  support  I  have 
received,  and  the  vindication  it  gives  me  against 
my  assailants,  yet  there  is  a  tone  of  sadness  run 
ning  through  this  triumph  which  I  can  hardly 
explain." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  207 


CHAPTER  XXVH. 

At  Mentor.  —  The  Journey  to  Washington.  —  Inauguration  Day.  — 
Immense  Concourse  of  People.  —  The  Address.  —  Sworn  into  Of 
fice.  —  Touch!  ig  Scene.  —  Grand  Display.  —  Inauguration  Ball.  — 
Announcement  of  the  Members  of  the  Cabinet.  —  Two  Great  Prob 
lems.  —  How  they  were  Solved.  —  Disgraceful  Rupture  in  the 
Senate.  —  Prerogative  of  the  Executive  Office  vindicated. 

THE  few  months  that  elapsed  between  the  elec 
tion  and  the  inauguration  were  spent  by  Garfield 
in  the  quiet  home  at  Mentor. 

One  day  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family  asked 
Mrs.  Garfield  if  she  were  not  looking  forward 
with  pleasant  anticipations  to  her  life  in  the  White 
House. 

"No,"  she  answered,  simply  and  sincerely,  "I 
can  only  hope  it  will  not  be  altogether  unhappy." 

The  words  occasioned  surprise  at  the  time  — 
afterwards  they  seemed  like  a  sad  prophecy. 

Inauguration  day  drew  near,  and  the  journey 
from  Mentor  to  Washington  was  one  continual 
series  of  ovations.  Then  that  memorable  fourth 
of  March  at  the  capital.  "  Who  that  beheld  the 
inspiring  spectacle,"  exclaims  one  writer,  w  can 
ever  see  it  grow  pale  in  memory  ! " 

Before  noon  thousands  of  people  had  gathered 


208  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

in  front  of  the  Capitol,  and  when  the  doors  of  the 
rotunda  were  thrown  open,  the  police  were  obliged 
to  push  away  the  crowd  that  had  assembled  on  the 
steps. 

Pennsylvania  Avenue,  between  the  Treasury 
and  the  Capitol  grounds,  was  one  great  sea  of 
heads,  and  loud  cheers  arose  from  every  side  as 
the  long  procession  escorting  the  President-elect 
passed  on  to  the  Capitol.  The  buildings  along  the 
whole  route  were  beautifully  decorated,  and  hand 
kerchiefs  fluttered  from  every  window. 

General  Sherman,  at  the  head  of  the  Cleveland 
troops,  led  the  way,  and  the  Columbia  Command- 
ery  of  Knights  Templars  formed  an  important  part 
of  the  escort. 

Upon  reaching  the  Capitol,  Garfield  took  his 
seat  on  the  platform,  with  President  Hayes  on  his 
right  hand,  and  Chief-Justice  Waite  on  his  left. 
Just  behind  him  sat  Mr.  Wheeler,  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent  Arthur.  The  mother  of  the  President-elect, 
his  wife  and  little  girl,  were  also  on  the  platform, 
and  Mrs.  Hayes  and  her  daughter  were  seated  just 
beside  them. 

The  Inaugural  Address,*  which  occupied  half 
an  hour  in  its  delivery,  was  frequently  applauded 
by  the  vast  audience.  The  clear,  ringing  tones  of 
the  speaker  gave  added  force  to  every  sentence ; 

*  See  page  480. 


Eliza  Ballou  Garficld. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  209 

and  his  wonderful  magnetism  held  the  whole  crowd 
spell-bound. 

At  the  close  of  the  address,  the  oath  of  office 
was  administered  by  the  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  then  the  immense  throngs  of 
people  began  slowly  to  disperse. 

The  threatening  clouds  of  the  early  morning  had 
all  disappeared,  and  the  bright  March  sun  looked 
down  upon  a  most  touching,  beautiful  picture,  as 
the  new  President  turned  around  to  his  dear  old 
mother,  the  guiding  star  of  his  life  —  and  tenderly 
kissed  her. 

"  Ah!  not  in  Greece  or  Rome  alone 

High  mother-hearts  shall  swell; 
America's  unsculptured  stone ! 

Will  Garfiekl  legends  tell,  — 
How  at  the  height  of  fame  he  durst  — 

The  proudest  moment  of  his  life  — 
To  put  the  white-haired  mother  first, 

Then  turned  and  kissed  his  wife.  " 

As  soon  as  the  evening  twilight  came  on,  a  grand 
display  of  fireworks  illuminated  the  city.  The 
Inauguration  Ball  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
ever  held  in  Washington.  The  hall  was  finely 
decorated.  Just  in  the  centre  of  the  rotunda  was 
a  statue  of  America,  surrounded  by  tropical  plants  ; 
in  her  left  hand  she  held  a  shield,  and  from  her 
right,  a  powerful  electric  light  in  the  form  of  a 
torch  shone  down  the  four  wings  of  the  building. 


210  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Heavy  festoons  of  evergreens,  intertwined  with 
rare  flowers,  hung  from  the  ceiling,  and  the  lofty 
pillars  were  decorated  with  streamers  of  bunting 
and  the  shields  of  the  States  and  Territories. 

Some  four  thousand  people  had  assembled  in  the 
building  before  the  arrival  of  the  presidential 
party.  Garfield  did  not  take  part  in  the  dancing, 
but  after  an  hour  spent  in  hand-shaking,  he  retired 
to  a  balcony  where  his  wife  and  mother  were 
seated,  and  watched  with  evident  enjoyment  the 
brilliant  scene  below. 

The  next  day  the  Senate  had  a  special  session, 
and  the  President  announced  his  Cabinet  as 
follows  :  — 

Secretary  of  State :  JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury :  WILLIAM  WINDOM. 
Secretary  of  the  Interior :  SAMUEL  J.  KIKKWOOD. 
Secretary  of  the  Navy :  WILLIAM  H.  HUNT. 
Secretary  of  War :  ROBERT  T.  LINCOLN. 
Postmaster-General :  THOMAS  L.  JAMES. 
Attorney -General :  WAYNE  Me  VEAGH. 

The  different  elements  of  the  Republican  party 
represented  by  these  names  seemed  to  presage 
rough  waters  for  the  ship-of-state ;  but  the  choice 
was  made  with  clear-sighted  judgment. 

Two  great  problems  confronted  President  Gar- 
field  as  he  assumed  the  reins  of  government. 
First,  what  should  be  done  with  the  national  debt, 
so  rapidly  maturing? 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  211 

After  considerable  investigation,  it  was  deemed 
best  to  extend  the  bonds  at  a  lower  rate  of 
interest,  that  is,  three  and  a  half  per  cent.  Gar- 
field's  accurate  knowledge  of  political  economy 
and  finance  saved  the  country  many  millions  of 
dollars  by  this  wise  plan ;  and  the  loans  as  fast  as 
they  have  become  due  have  been  paid  by  new 
bonds  issued  at  this  lower  rate. 

The  second  problem  was  not  to  be  solved  so 
readily.  How  could  half  a  million  of  importunate 
office-seekers  be  appeased,  when  only  a  hundred 
thousand  offices  were  in  the  President's  power  to 
bestow  ? 

The  baleful  influence  of  the  wretched  spoils  sys 
tem  began  its  evil  work  at  once. 

Said  a  leading  political  paper  :  — 

"The  feeling  has  become  a  very  dominant  one 
that  the  Government  owes  every  man  a  living. 
This  is  found  all  the  way  up  from  the  country 
school  district  to  town,  city,  county,  state  and 
nation.  It  need  not  be  said  this  is  an  unhealthy 
condition  of  things  in  every  aspect.  It  diverts 
men's  minds  from  the  old  paths  of  industry,  and 
badly  demoralizes  families  and  communities.  It 
leads  to  all  manner  of  crimes,  and  so  intensifies 
party  spirit  that  all  laws  provided  for  their  punish 
ment  are  practically  inoperative." 

President  Garfield  had  never  had  any  sympathy 
with  the  system  that  tries  to  appease  its  party 


212  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

by  "liquidating  personal  obligations  with  public 
trusts."  In  organizing  his  administration,  he 
desired  to  unite  and  consolidate  the  Republican 
party,  and  to  make  such  appointments  as  were  for 
the  manifest  good  of  the  whole  country.  But  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  do  this  without  exciting 
opposition ;  the  disgraceful  rupture  in  the  Senate 
immediately  followed,  and  the  first  weeks  of  his 
administration  presented  one  continued  series  of 
hotly-contested  battles. 

That  the  President  held  his  own,  in  spite  of  all 
adverse  criticism,  showed  at  once  the  strong,  un 
yielding  hand  that  guided  the  Ship  of  State,  and 
after-events  proved  that  he  was  clearly  right  from 
first  to  last. 

"  President  Garfield,"  said  one  able  writer, 
"  used  political  weapons  to  combat  politicians  in 
the  matter  of  the  New  York  Custom  House,  but 
he  achieved  much  by  so  doing.  For  the  first  time 
since  1876  we  have  a  Republican  party  in  New 
York  distinct  from  the  close  corporation  that  has 
controlled  the  organization  there  these  recent 
years.  A  nucleus  has  been  established  around 
which  all  shades  of  Republican  opinion  can  rally 
with  the  good  hope  of  destroying  the  despotism 
that  has  virtually  ostracized  the  best  Republicans 
of  the  State  from  influential  participation  in  national 
politics.  The  nucleus  is  an  administration  party, 
which  invites  the  co-operation  of  all  who  would 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  213 

liberalize  the  organization.  With  the  overthrow 
of  "  machine  "  control,  as  it  has  existed  in  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  the  old  would-be 
dictators  remanded  to  their  proper  place,  a  great 
advance  has  been  made  towards  that  purer  con 
dition  of  political  and  public  affairs  that  all  honest 
men  favor." 


214  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SEEVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  XXVIH. 


The  President  Plans  a  Ten- Days'  Pleasure-Trip. — Morning  of  the 
Fateful  Day. — Secretary  Elaine  Accompanies  him  to  the  Station. 
— A  Mysterious-looking  Character. — Sudden  Keport  of  a  Pistol. — 
The  President  Turns  and  Receives  the  Fatal  Shot. — Arrest  of  the 
Assassin. — The  President  Recovers  Consciousness  and  is  Taken 
Back  to  the  White  House. 

"A  WASP  flew  out  upon  onr  fairest  son, 
And  stung  him  to  the  quick  with  poisoned  shaft, 
The  while  he  chatted  carelessly  and  laughed, 
And  knew  not  of  the  fateful  mischief  done. 
And  so  this  life,  amid  our  love  begun, 
Envenomed  by  the  insect's  hellish  craft, 
Was  drunk  by  Death  in  one  long,  feverish  draught, 
And  he  was  lost  —  our  precious,  priceless  one ! 
Oh,  mystery  of  blind,  remorseless  fate ! 
Oh,  cruel  end  of  a  most  causeless  hate ! 
That  life  so  mean  should  murder  life  so  great ! " 

J.  G.  HOLLAND. 

The  anniversary  of  our  National  Independence 
was  now  close  at  hand.  In  spite  of  the  shameful  and 
distressing  party  factions  of  the  previous  weeks, 
the  country  had  never  seemed  in  a  more  pros 
perous  condition.  The  electric  state  of  the  politi 
cal  atmosphere  had  proved  itself  an  element  of 


JAMES    A.    GAIiFIELD.  215 

purification,  not  of  destruction,  and  the  outlook 
for  the  future  grew  brighter  every  day. 

On  the  morning  of  July  second,  the  President 
arose  at  an  early  hour.  Wcrn  out  with  the  harass 
ing  disturbances  of  the  past  weeks,  he  felt  the 
urgent  need  of  a  few  days'  rest  and  recreation. 
Mrs.  Garfield,  who  had  been  spending  a  little  time 
at  Long  Branch,  was  to  join  him  in  New  York ; 
and  together  with  a  few  members  of  the  Cabinet 
and  their  families,  the  President  had  planned  a  ten- 
days'  trip  through  New  England. 

It  was  a  lovely  summer's  morning,  The  dew 
sparkled  on  the  beautiful  lawn  and  gay  parterres 
in  front  of  the  White  House,  the  cool  trickle  of 
the  fountain  mingled  with  the  twittering  of  the 

o  o 

sparrows  as  they  flitted  in  and  out  of  their  nests 
under  the  great  front  porch. 

All  nature  seemed  in  sympathy  with  the  joyous 
mood  of  the  President,  as  he  gaily  tried  an  athletic 
feat  with  one  of  his  boys,  laughed,  jested,  and 
talked  about  the  commencement  exercises  at 
Williams  College,  which  he  hoped  to  attend  in  a 
few  days. 

Not  one  breath  of  impending  danger,  not  one 
note  of  warning  was  there  in  the  clear,  sunny  at 
mosphere  of  that  bright  July  morning  ! 

Shortly  after  breakfast,  Secretary  Elaine  drove 
up  to  the  White  House  and  accompanied  the  Presi 
dent  to  the  station  of  the  Baltimore  and  Potomac 


216  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Railroad,  where  the  express  train  to  New  York 
leaves  at  9.30. 

Finding  they  were  ten  minutes  before  time,  the 
President  and  his  Secretary  remained  in  the  car 
riage,  earnestly  talking,  until  the  ddpot  official 
reminded  them  that  the  train  was  about  to  start. 

Arm  in  arm  they  passed  through  the  broad 
entrance-door  into  the  ladies'  waiting-room,  which 
gave  them  the  readiest  access  to  the  train  beyond. 

The  room  was  almost  empty,  as  most  of  the 
passengers  had*  already  taken  their  seats  in  the 
cars,  but  pacing  nervously  up  and  down  the  ad 
joining  rooms,  was  a  thin,  wiry-looking  man,  whose 
peculiar  appearance  had  once  or  twice  been  com 
mented  upon  by  some  of  the  railroad  officials. 
Still,  there  was  really  nothing  about  him  to  excite 
suspicion.  He  •  might  have  simply  missed  the 
train ;  and,  as  he  seemed  inclined  to  mind  his  own 
business,  no  further  notice  had  been  taken  of  him. 

As  the  President  passed  through  the  room,  this 
ill-favored  looking  man  suddenly  sprang  up  behind 
him,  and,  taking  a  heavy  revolver  from  his  pocket, 
deliberately  aimed  it  at  the  noble,  commanding 
figure. 

At  the  sharp  report  the  President  turned  his 
head  with  a  troubled  look  of  surprise,  and  Secre 
tary  Elaine  sprang  quickly  to  one  side.  The 
wretch  immediately  re-cocked  his  pistol,  set  his 
teeth,  and  fired  again. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  217 

This  time  the  President  fell  senseless  to  the 
floor,  and  a  dazed  crowd  surrounded  him  while 
Secretary  Elaine  sprang  after  the  assassin.  The 
cowardly  knave  was  easily  secured,  and  then  all 
thoughts  centred  upon  the  suffering  victim.  Mrs. 
White,  who  had  charge  of  the  ladies'  waiting- 
room,  was  the  first  to  see  the  President  fall,  and, 
running  to  his  assistance,  she  knelt  down  and  sup 
ported  him  in  her  arms.  The  dreadful  tidings 
flew  hither  and  thither  on  eagle- wings.  Post 
master-General  James,  Secretary  Windom,  Secre 
tary  Hunt,  and  others  of  the  party  who  were  to  ac 
company  the  President  on  his  trip,  wrere  soon  at 
his  side,  and  messengers  were  sent  in  all  direc 
tions. 

A  physician  was  soon  on  the  spot ;  the  wounded 
man  was  tenderly  placed  upon  a  mattress,  and 
carried  without  delay  to  the  White  House. 

Yet,  before  he  was  taken  from  the  station,  he 
suddenly  aroused  from  his  half-unconscious  state, 
and  turning  to  one  of  his  friends  he  said,  with  his 
old,  self-forgetting  though tfulness, — 

"  Rockwell,  I  want  you  to  send  a  message  to  my 
wife.  Tell  her  I  am  seriously  hurt ;  how  seriously 
I  cannot  yet  say.  I  am  myself,  and  hope  she  will 
come  to  me  soon.  I  send  my  love  to  her." 


218  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

At  the  White  House.  —  The  Anxious  Throngs.  —  Examination  of  the 
Wounds.  —  The  President's  Questions.  —  His  Willingness  to 
Die.  —  Waiting  for  his  Wife.  —  Sudden  Relapse.  —  A  Glimmer  of 
Hope.  —  A  Sunday  of  Doubt.  —  Independence  Day.  —  Remarks 
of  George  William  Curtis. 

THE  members  of  the  Cabinet  and  a  number 
of  the  President's  personal  friends  were  at  the 
White  House,  when  the  ambulance  containing  the 
wounded  man  drove  slowly  up  the  avenue. 

When  he  saw  them  on  the  porch,  he  raised  his 
right  hand,  and  with  one  of  his  old,  bright  smiles, 
gave  the  military  salute.  But  for  the  extreme 
pallor  of  his  face,  no  one  would  have  guessed  the 
intense  pain  he  was  suffering,  as  he  was  borne  up 
stairs  to  his  own  room  in  the  southeast  corner. 

An  excited  crowd  had  already  gathered  about 
the  White  House,  but  troops  had  been  ordered 
from  the  Washington  Arsenal,  and  armed  sentinels 
kept  a  vigilant  guard  about  the  executive  Mansion. 

When  Dr.  Bliss  and  the  other  physicians  in 
attendance  examined  the  wounds,  they  found 
the  'first  shot  had  passed  through  the  arm 
just  below  the  shoulder,  without  breaking  any 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  219 

bones.  The  other  ball  had  entered  the  back  just 
over  the  hips,  but  what  direction  it  had  taken,  or 
where  it  had  lodged,  could  not  be  determined  with 
any  degree  of  certainty.  The  physicians  held  a 
short  consultation,  and  agreed  to  search  for  the 
ball  as  soon  as  the  President's  condition  would 
permit. 

The  wounded  man  first  complained  of  pain  in 
his  feet  and  legs,  and  for  a  long  time  the  "  tiger 
clawing,"  as  he  called  it,  seemed  harder  to  bear 
than  anything  else.  It  is  easy  to  understand  now, 
how  seriously  the  spinal  cord  and  the  whole  nerv 
ous  system  must  have  been  affected  by  that  first 
fearful  fracture  of  the  vertebrae. 

As  the  shock  began  to  pass  off,  the  President 
turned  to  Secretary  Elaine,  who  was  sitting  beside 
him,  and  said,  — 

"What  motive  do  you  think  that  man  could 
have  had  in  trying  to  assassinate  me  ?  " 

"Indeed,  I  cannot  tell.  He  says  he  had  no 
motive." 

"Perhaps,"  said  Garfield,  with  a  smile,  "he 
thought  it  would  be  a  glorious  thing  to  be  a 
pirate  king." 

Turning  to  Dr.  Bliss,  he  said,  — 

"I  want  to  know  my. true  condition.  Do  not 
conceal  anything  from  me ;  remember,  I  am  not 
afraid  to  die." 

The  President's  condition  was  extremely  critical 


220  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

at  that  time,  as  there  were  indications  of  internal 
hemorrhage,  and  the  doctor  frankly  told  him  that 
he  feared  he  could  live  but  a  few  hours. \ 

"  God's  will  be  done,"  he  replied ;  "I  am  ready 
to  go  if  my  time  has  come." 

As  the  little  group  stood  in  silence  about  his 
bed,  they  recalled  his  words  to  Colonel  Knox  only 
a  few  days  before,  when  warned  of  the  danger  that 
might  be  lurking  in  hidden  corners. 

"  I  must  come  and  go  as  usual,"  he  said ;  "  I 
cannot  surround  myself  with  a  body-guard.  If 
the  good  of  this  country,  the  interests  of  pure  gov 
ernment  and  of  the  people  against  one-man  power, 
demand  the  sacrifice  of  my  life,  I  think  I  am 
ready  " 

The  arrival  of  Mrs.  Garfield  from  Long  Branch 
was  anxiously  awaited  all  through  that  long,  weary 
afternoon.  An  accident  to  the  engine  delayed  the 
train  upon  which  she  had  started,  and  it  was  even 
ing  before  she  reached  the  White  House. 

The  President's  quick  ears  heard  the  carriage- 
wheels  as  they  rolled  over  the  gravel  driveway, 
and  with  a  bright  smile,  he  exclaimed,  — 

"  That's  my  wife  !  God  bless  the  little  woman  !  " 
Then  the  strong-will  power  that  had  kept  him  up 
to  this  moment,  seemed  suddenly  to  give  way.  His 
attendants  thought  he  was  dying,  and  for  hours 
his  life  hung  upon  the  merest  thread. 

Slowly,  but  surely,  the  tide  began  to  turia,     At 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  221 

midnight  he  was  still  conscious  —  the  doctors 
thought  there  was  "one  chance"  that  he  might 
recover  —  the  President  had  bravely  taken  that 
one  chance ;  and  with  lightning  speed  the  good 
news  was  telegraphed  all  over  the  country. 

Sunday  morning  the  President  was  so  much 
better  that  he  wanted  to  know  what  had  been  said 
about  the  assassination  —  and  what  was  the  general 
feeling  throughout  the  country. 

"  The  country,"  replied  Colonel  Rockwell,  "  is 
full  of  sympathy  for  you.  We  will  save  all  the 
papers  so  that  you  can  see  them  when  you  get 
well ;  but  you  must  not  talk  now." 

The  President  smiled,  and  in  the  broken  slum 
ber  that  followed  he  murmured  to  himself, — 

"The  great  heart  of  the  people  will  not  let  the 
old  soldier  die  !  " 

The  next  night  was  one  of  fearful  suspense,  and 
the  dawn  of  Independence  Day  was  ushered  in 
with  mingled  feelings  of  hope  and  fear. 

A  few  days  later,  George  William  Curtis  wrote 
as  follows : — 

"No  Fourth  of  July  in  our  history  was  ever  so 
mournful  as  that  which  has  just  passed.  In  1826 
John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson  died  on  Inde 
pendence  Day.  But  the  singular  and  beautiful 
coincidence  was  not  known  for  some  time,  and 
then  it  was  felt  to  be  a  fitting  and  memorable  end 
of  the  life  of  venerable  patriots  long  withdrawn 


222  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

from  public  affairs.  Nearly  forty  years  later, 
1863,  there  was  intense  and  universal  anxiety 
when  the  great  day  dawned.  Mr.  Greeley,  in  his 
history,  calls  the  ten  days  preceding  the  Fourth  of 
July  in  that  year  the  very  darkest  days  the  repub 
lic  ever  saw.  But  that  was  during  the  angry  fury 
of  civil  war,  when  passions  and  emotions  of  every 
kind  were  inflamed  to  the  utmost.  There  was 
fiery  party  rancor  in  the  feeling  of  that  time,  and 
the  whole  year  was  full  of  similar  excitement. 

"But  the  emotion  and  the  spectacle  of  this  year 
are  without  parallel.  In  every  household  there 
was  a  hushed  and  tender  silence,  as  if  one  dearly 
loved  lay  dying.  In  every  great  city  and  retired 
village  the  public  festivities  were  stayed,  and  the 
assembly  of  joy  and  pride  and  congratulation  was 
solemnized  into  a  reverent  congregation  of  heads 
bowed  in  prayer.  In  foreign  countries  American 
gayety  was  suspended.  In  the  British  Parliament, 
Whig  and  Tory  and  Radical  listened  to  catch  from 
the  lips  of  the  Prime  Minister  the  latest  tidings 
from  one  sufferer.  From  the  French  republic, 
from  the  old  empire  of  Japan,  and  the  new  king 
dom  of  Bulgaria,  from  Parnell,  the  Irish  agitator, 
and  from  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  came  mes 
sages  of  sympathy  and  sorrow.  Sovereigns  and 
princes,  the  people  and  the  nobles,  joined  in 
earnest  hope  for  the  life  of  the  Republican  Presi 
dent.  The  press  of  all  Christendom  told  the 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD.  223 

mournful  story,  and  moralized  as  it  told.  In  this 
country  the  popular  grief  was  absolutely  unani 
mous.  One  tender,  overpowering  thought  called 
a  truce  even  to  party  contention.  Old  and  young, 
men  and  women  of  all  nationalities  and  of  all 
preferences,  their  differences  forgotten,  waited  all 
day  for  news,  watched  the  flags  and  every  sign 
that  might  be  significant,  and  lay  down,  praying, 
to  sleep,  thanking  God  that  as  yet  the  worst  had 
not  come. 

"  It  was  a  marvellous  tribute.  In  Europe,  it  was 
respect  for  a  powerful  State ;  in  America,  it  was 
affection  for  a  simple  and  manly  character.  It  is 
plain  that  the  tale  of  General  Garfield's  hardy  and 
heroic  life,  the  sure  and  steady  rise  of  this  poor 
American  boy,  taking  every  degree  of  honor  in 
the  great  university  of  experience,  equal  to  every 
occasion,  to  peace  and  war,  to  good  fortune  and 
ill  fortune,  had  profoundly  touched  the  heart  of 
his  countrymen.  A  year  ago,  every  word  and 
incident  of  that  life  was  told  by  party  passion  — 
on  one  side  eulogized  and  extolled ;  on  the  other, 
distorted  and  vilified.  Out  of  the  fiery  ordeal  he 
emerged  with  a  general  kindly  regard  and  high 
expectation.  Mild  and  conciliatory  in  character, 
of  long  and  various  political  experience,  a  natural 
statesman  with  an  able  mind  amply  stored  and 
especially  trained  for  public  duty,  simply  dignified 
in  manner,  a  powerful  man,  singularly  blameless, 


224  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

he  entered  upon  the  presidency  with  every  happy 
augury.  The  country  was  at  peace  within  and 
without,  and  hummed  with  universal  prosperity. 
The  first  measures  of  his  administration  were  both 
wise  and  fortunate,  and  the  only  trouble  sprang 
from  a  source  which  is  rapidly  becoming  the  fatal 
bane  of  the  country — the  patronage  of  office. 
This  breeds  faction  and  makes  faction  fanatical 
and  furious.  If  indignation  with  fancied  slights 
and  supposed  breaches  of  faith  regarding  patronage, 
could  so  overmaster  a  conspicuous  and  experienced 
public  man  like  Mr.  Conkling  as  to  drive  him 
suddenly  to  resign  the  highest  political  trust  which 
his  State  could  bestow,  to  imperil  his  public 
career,  to  astound  his  friends,  and  to  abandon  the 
control  of  the  Senate  to  his  political  opponents,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  fancied  neglect  of  political 
merit  and  service  should  bewilder  the  light  brain 
of  an  unbalanced  and  obscure  camp-follower  like 
Guiteau,  until,  brooding  with  diseased  mind  upon 
his  *  wrongs,'  he  should  resolve  to  do  f  justice'  upon 
the  supposed  wrong-doer. 

"So,  in  the  most  peaceful  and  prosperous  mo 
ment  that  this  conntry  has  known  for  a  half-cen 
tury,  the  shot  of  the  assassin  is  fired  at  a  man 
absolutely  without  personal  enemies,  and  a  Presi 
dent  whom  even  his  political  opponents  respect. 
Then  to  the  impression  of  brave  and  generous  and 
sagacious  manhood,  already  produced  by  his  career, 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  225 

was  added  his  sweet  and  tranquil  bearing  under 
the  murderous  blow.  The  unselfish  thought  of 
others,  the  cheerful  steadiness  and  even  gayety  of 
temper,  the  lofty  and  manly  resignation,  with  en 
tire  freedom  from  ostentation  of  piety,  the  strong 
love  of  the  strong  man  for  those  dearest  to  him, 
and  the  noble  response  of  his  wife's  calm  and  per 
fect  womanhood  to  this  supreme  and  courageous 
manhood,  filled  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen  with 
sympathy  and  love  and  sorrow,  and  whether  he 
lived  or  died,  his  place  in  the  affection  of  Ameri 
cans  was  as  secure  as  Lincoln's. 

"  Such  feeling  of  millions  of  hearts  for  one  man 
is  profoundly  touching.  It  gives  him  a  great  dis 
tinction  among  all  mankind.  But  it  is  also  a  bene 
diction  for  a  people  to  be  lifted  by  such  an  emotion. 
It  is  impossible  that  party  passion  should  not  be 
somewhat  subdued  by  it,  and  that  a  wholesome 
sense  of  shame  should  not  chasten  factions  and 
disputes.  If  such  are  the  men  with  whom  bitter 
quarrels  are  waged,  and  upon  whom  unstinted 
contumely  and  contempt  are  poured  out,  shall  we 
not  all,  upon  every  side,  pause  and  reflect  that  to 
blow  mere  party  fires  to  fury,  and  to  trample  per 
sonal  character  in  the  mire  of  angry  political  dis 
pute,  is  to  disgrace  ourselves  and  the  cause  that  we 
would  serve,  and  the  country  whose  good  name 
depends  upon  us?  That  is  the  reflection  which 
this  last  solemn  Fourth  of  July  undoubtedly 


226  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

suggested.  It  recalled  the  country  to  emotions 
higher  than  those  of  the  shop  and  the  caucus.  It 
is  character  that  makes  a  country.  It  is  manhood 
like  that  of  Garfield  and  Lincoln  which  made  the 
past  of  America,  and  which  makes  its  future 
possible.  Commercial  prosperity  and  politics  and 
all  national  interests  rest  at  last  upon  the  honesty 
and  courage  and  intelligence  of  the  people,  not 
upon  mines  and  material  resources,  nor  upon  great 
railroads  or  tariffs  or  free  trade." 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  227 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  Assassin.  —  What  were  his  Motives.  —  His  own  Confessions. — 
Statement  of  District- Attorney  Corkhill.  —  Sketch  of  Guiteau's 
Early  Life. 

TOGETHER  with  the  overwhelming  sense  of 
grief  and  consternation  that  had  spread  throughout 
the  country,  was  the  eager  desire  to  know  what 
motives  had  actuated  the  assassin  in  his  terrible 
deed. 

When  questioned  by  the  detective  who  took 
hirn  to  jail,  Guiteau  declared,  "I  am  a  Stalwart  of 
the  Stalwarts;  I  did  it  to  save  the  Republican 
party." 

"  Is  there  anybody  else  with  you  in  this  matter?'* 

" Not  a  living  soul,"  he  replied.  "I  have  con 
templated  the  thing  for  the  last  six  weeks  and 
would  have  shot  the  President  when  he  went  away 
with  Mrs.  Garfield,  but  I  looked  at  her,  and  she 
looked  so  sick,  I  changed  my  mind." 

After  a  careful  investigation  of  the  facts,  Dis 
trict-Attorney  Corkhill  published  the  following 
statement :  — 

"  The  interest  felt  by  the  public  in  the  details  of 
the  assassination,  and  the  many  stories  published, 


228  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

justify  me  in  stating  that  the  following  is  a  correct 
and  accurate  statement  concerning  the  points  to 
which  reference  is  made :  The  assassin,  Charles 
Guiteau,  came  to  Washington  city  on  Sunday 
evening,  March  6th,  1881,  and  stopped  at  the 
Ebbitt  House,  remaining  only  one  day.  He  then 
secured  a  room  in  another  part  of  the  city,  and 
had  boarded  and  roomed  at  various  places,  the 
full  details  of  which  I  have.  On  Wednesday, 
May  18th,  1881,  the  assassin  determined  to  mur 
der  the  President.  He  had  neither  money  nor 
pistol  at  the  time.  About  the  last  of  May  he 
went  into  O'Meara's  store,  corner  of  Fifteenth  and 
F  Streets,  this  city,  and  examined  some  pistols, 
asking  for  the  largest  calibre.  He  was  shown  two 
similar  in  calibre,  and  only  different  in  the  price. 
On  Wednesday,  June  8th,  he  purchased  a  pistol, 
for  which  he  paid  $10,  he  having,  in  the  mean  time, 
borrowed  $15  of  a  gentleman  in  this  city,  on  the 
plea  that  he  wanted  to  pay  his  board  bill.  On  the 
same  evening,  about  seven  o'clock,  he  took  the  pis 
tol  and  went  to  the  foot  of  Seventeenth  Street,  and 
practised  firing  at  a  board,  firing  ten  shots.  He 
then  returned  to  his  boarding-place  and  wiped  the 
pistol  dry,  and  wrapped  it  in  his  coat,  and  waited 
his  opportunity.  On  Sunday  morning,  June  15th, 
he  was  sitting  in  Lafayette  Park,  and  saw  the 
President  leave  for  the  Christian  Church  on  Ver 
mont  Avenue,  and  he  at  once  returned  to  his 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  229 

room,  obtained  his  pistol,  put  it  in  his  pocket,  and 
followed  the  President  to  church.  He  entered  the 
church,  but  found  he  could  not  kill  him  there 
without  danger  of  killing  some  one  else.  He 
noticed  that  the  President  sat  near  a  window. 
After  church  he  made  an  examination  of  the  win 
dow,  and  found  he  could  reach  it  without  any 
trouble,  and  that  from  this  point  he  could  shoot 
the  President  through  the  head  without  killing  any 
one  else.  The  following  Wednesday  he  went  to 
the  church,  examined  the  location  and  the  window, 
and  became  satisfied  he  could  accomplish  his  pur 
pose.  He  determined  to  make  the  attempt  at  the 
church  the  following  Sunday.  Learning  from  the 
papers  that  the  President  would  leave  the  city  on 
Saturday,  the  18th  of  June,  with  Mrs.  Garfield, 
for  Long  Branch,  he  therefore  decided  to  meet 
him  at  the  depot.  He  left  his  boarding-place 
about  5  o'clock  Saturday  morning,  June  18th,  and 
went  down  to  the  river  at  the  foot  of  Seventeenth 
Street,  and  fired  five  shots  to  practise  his  aim,  and 
be  certain  his  pistol  was  in  good  order.  He  then 
went  to  the  depot,  and  was  in  the  ladies'  waiting- 
room  of  the  depot,  with  his  pistol  ready,  when  the 
presidential  party  entered.  He  says  Mrs.  Garfield 
looked  so  weak  and  frail  that  he  had  not  the  heart 
to  shoot  the  President  in  her  presence,  and,  as  he 
knew  he  would  have  another  opportunity,  he  left 
the  depot.  He  had  previously  engaged  a  carriage 


230  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

to  take  him  to  the  jail.  On  Wednesday  evening, 
the  President  and  his  son,  and,  I  think,  United 
States  Marshal  Henry,  went  out  for  a  ride.  The 
assassin  took  his  pistol  and  followed  them,  and 
watched  them  for  some  time,  in  hopes  the  carriage 
would  stop,  but  no  opportunity  was  given.  On 
Friday  evening,  July  1,  he  was  sitting  on  the 
seat  in  the  park  opposite  the  White  House,  when 
he  saw  the  President  come  out  alone.  He  fol 
lowed  him  down  the  avenue  to  Fifteenth  Street, 
and  then  kept  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street 
upon  Fifteenth,  until  the  President  entered  the 
residence  of  Secretary  Elaine.  He  waited  at  the 
corner  of  Fifteenth  and  H  Streets  for  some  time, 
and  then,  as  he  was  afraid  he  would  attract  atten 
tion,  he  went  into  the  alley  in  the  rear  of  Mr. 
Morton's  residence,  examined  his  pistol,  and  waited. 
The  President  and  Secretary  Elaine  came  out  to 
gether,  and  he  followed  over  to  the  gate  of  the 
White  House,  but  could  get  no  opportunity  to  use 
his  weapon.  On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July 
2d,  he  breakfasted  at  the  Riggs  House  about  7 
o'clock.  He  then  walked  up  into  the  park,  and 
sat  there  for  an  hour.  He  then  took  a  horse-car 
and  rode  to  Sixth  Street,  got  out  and  went  into 
the  depot  and  loitered  around  there  ;  had  his  shoes 
blacked  ;  engaged  a  hackman  for  two  dollars  to  take 
him  to  the  jail ;  went  into  a  private  room  and  took 
his  pistol  out  of  his  pocket,  unwrapped  the  paper 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  231 

from  around  it,  which  he  had  put  there  to  prevent 
the  dampening  of  the  powder ;  examined  his  pis 
tol  ;  carefully  tried  the  trigger,  and  then  returned 
and  took  a  seat  in  the  ladies'  waiting-room,  and, 
as  soon  as  the  President  entered,  advanced  behind 
him  and  fired  two  shots. 

"  These  facts,  I  think,  can  be  relied  upon  as  ac 
curate,  and  I  give  them  to  the  public  to  contradict 
certain  false  rumors  in  connection  with  the  most 
atrocious  of  atrocious  crimes." 

Can  such  a  deliberate  preparation  as  this  be 
deemed  an  act  of  insanity  ? 

A  gentleman  who  knew  Guiteau  as  a  boy,  says 
that  he  is  of  French  descent,  and  that  his  father, 
J.  W.  Guiteau,  was  "  an  old  resident  and  respected 
citizen  of  Freeport,  111.  He  married  a  very  beau 
tiful  woman,  and  with  her  and  the  younger  chil 
dren,  he  joined  the  Oneida  Community.  He  after 
wards  returned  to  Freeport,  where  he  served  as 
cashier  of  the  Second  National  Bank  until  his  death. 
At  one  time  he  became  deranged  on  the  subject  of 
'  Perfection,'  and  lectured  extensively  through  the 
North  and  West  on  that  subject.  There  were 
three  children.  An  elder  brother,  Wilkes  Guiteau, 
for  a  long  time  practised  law  at  Davenport,  Iowa. 
A  younger  sister,  Flora,  was  a  very  promising 
girl.  When  the  family  left  Oneida  Community, 
Charles,  then  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  old,  was  left 
behind.  He  afterwards  went  to  Chicago,  where  he 


232  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

studied  law,  being  cared  for  and  supplied  with 
money  by  his  father.  After  completing  his  studies, 
he  went  to  Europe,  where  he  travelled  several 
years,  imbibing  Socialistic  and  other  eccentric  doc 
trines.  A  few  years  ago  he  returned  to  this  coun 
try,  and  lectured  on  the  second  advent  of  Christ. 
He  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  subject,  in  which 
the  egotism  of  the  man  was  plainly  shown.  From 
what  I  knew  of  the  boy,  his  education  in  the 
Oneida  Community,  and  his  utterances  on  religion, 
I  was  not  at  all  surprised  at  his  committing  the  act. 
I  understand  from  people  employed  at  the  White 
House  that  Guiteau  had  forced  himself  upon  the 
President  several  times.  He  was  an  applicant  for 
the  consulship  at  Marseilles  ;  and  one  day  obtained 
access  to  the  President,  and  acted  so  rudely  that 
the  President  had  him  removed.  I  have  no  doubt 
that,  feeling  offended  by  this  act,  he  determined 
on  the  course  which  culminated  in  the  terrible 
tragedy  of  July  the  second." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  233 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Night  of  the  Fourth. —Extreme  Solicitude  at  the  White  House.— 
Description  of  an  Eye-witness.  —  Attorney  McVeagh's  Remark.  — 
Sudden  Change  for  the  Better.  —  Steady  Improvement.  —  The 
Medical  Attendance. 

THE  night  of  the  Fourth  was  a  time  of  extreme 
solicitude  at  the  White  House.  Said  one  who  was 
present :  — 

"I  sat  in  the  great  East  Room  with  the  Attor 
ney-General, — 

"'Ah,'  he  exclaimed,  'our  Garfield  was  never  a 
better  President  than  he  was  at  the  moment  when 
Guiteau's  bullet  struck  him  down.  He  never  saw 
more  clearly,  and  he  never  had  a  firmer  or  better 
purpose.  He  was  going  to  be  all  that  the  best 
thought  of  the  country  ever  expected  of  him.  He 
was  going  to  be  a  great  President.' 

"The  last  time  I  had  been  in  this  East  Room 
was  at  Mr.  Hayes'  last  diplomatic  reception,  when 
thousands  of  elegantly  dressed  people  thronged  it, 
and  music  and  lights  made  it,  for  that  evening  at 
least,  the  handsomest  room  in  the  country.  There 
were  no  lights  now.  The  great  spaces  were 
gloomy  with  what  seemed  to  be  the  gloom  of 


234  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

coming  death.  Through  the  open  windows  on  the 
south  side  the  summer  air  stole  lazily,  and  the 
shadows  of  the  draperies  seemed  to  add  to  the  dark 
ness.  There  was  no  music  now  —  only  the  sound 
of  whispered  conversation  as  people  went  up  or 
down  the  stairs.  The  result  of  tLs  early  evening 
consultation  was  unfavorable.  Tympanites  had 
again  appeared,  and  apparently  in  a  more  threaten 
ing  form  than  before.  Grave  men  shook  their  heads. 
Even  the  brave  Mrs.  Garfield  lost  somewhat  of  the 
splendid  courage  that  had  sustained  her  throughout 
her  trying  ordeal.  For  the  first  time  after  his 
recovery  from  the  shock  of  the  bullet,  the  President 
seemed  to  lose  hope  himself. 

"  Suddenly  there  was  a  change  for  the  better. 
Toward  midnight,  the  troubled  slumbers  of  the 
President  became  peaceful,  and  he  soon  sank  into 
the  best  sleep  he  had  enjoyed  since  the  shooting 
on  Saturday  morning.  His  pulse  and  temperature 
became  better;  there  were  signs  of  an  improved 
vitality ;  the  breathing  was  easier ;  the  pains 
ceased ;  there  was  no  longer  any  appearance  of 
dangerous  inflammation  or  of  peritonitis.  Hope 
began  to  dawn  where  despondency  had  been  ;  the 
faces  that  had  been  full  of  gloom  began  to  look 
hopeful ;  there  was  yet  some  encouragement. 
Recovery  flung  out  her  signals  in  the  steady  breath 
ings  and  the  peaceful  slumber  of  the  President. 
The  improvement  continued,  and  again  it  could  be 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  235 

said  that  there  was  hope  of  final  recovery.  It 
seemed  as  though  the  strong  will  and  constitution 
of  the  man  had  made  one  more  effort  for  life." 

The  cheering  bulletins  on  the  following  morning 
kindled  fresh  hope  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
The  general  feeling  was  expressed  that  the  worst 
was  over,  and  the  nation  began  to  take  courage. 
By  the  ninth  of  July  the  President  was  so  much 
better,  that  his  children  were  allowed  to  come  into 
the  room.  On  the  13th,  it  was  reported  that  his 
appetite  was  improving,  that  he  had  asked  for  a 
steak,  and  sandwiches  of  bread  and  scraped  raw 
beef  had  been  given  him.  This  increase  in  the 
variety  of  his  food  seemed  to  give  him  additional 
strength,  and  the  condition  of  the  wound  was  so 
favorable  that  it  was  thought  the  ball  had  become 
encysted. 

The  first  physician  who  reached  the  President 
when  he  lay  wounded  at  the  depot,  was  Dr.  Smith 
Townshend,  Health  Officer  of  the  District  of  Co 
lumbia.  As  soon  as  he  examined  the  wound,  he 
pronounced  it  necessarily  fatal.  Immediately  after 
the  shooting,  the  Secretary  of  War,  according  to 
the  President's  wishes,  had  summoned  Dr.  Bliss, 
who  with  other  physicians  reached  the  depot  soon 
after  Dr.  Townshend. 

"  On  the  following  Sunday  morning,"  says  Dr. 
Bliss,  "  when  the  President  had  fully  reacted,  had 
had  several  hours  of  rest,  was  cheerful  and  compe- 


236      LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

tent  to  attend  to  any  ordinary  business,  I  presented 
the  matter  of  his  professional  attendance  to  him, 
Mrs.  Garfield  being  present.  I  then  explained  to 
him  fully,  the  valuable  professional  assistance  the 
large  number  of  medical  gentlemen  had  rendered 
up  to  that  time,  representing,  as  they  did,  the 
best  medical  talent  in  the  city.  His  reply  was, — 

"  'Of  course,  doctor,  it  will  not  do  to  continue 
the  large  number  of  medical  gentlemen  in  attend 
ance  ;  such  a  number  of  surgeons  would  be 
cumbersome  and  unwieldy.' 

"I  said  then  :  'Mr.  President,  it  is  your  duty  to 
select  your  medical  attendants  now.' 

"He  replied :  '  I  desire  you  to  take  charge  of 
my  case.  I  know  of  your  experience  and  skill, 
and  have  full  confidence  in  your  judgment,  and 
wish  you  to  thank  the  doctors  individually  for 
their  kind  attendance.'  I  thanked  him,  and 
replied  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  select  three 
or  four  medical  assistants  as  counsel  in  the  case. 
He  replied, — 

" '  I  shall  leave  that  entirely  with  you ;  you 
know  what  talent  you  require,  and  your  judgment 
is  best  upon  that  point.'  I  then  selected  in  order 
the  gentlemen  who  were  immediately  associated  in 
the  case,  Surgeon-General  J.  K.  Barnes,  of  the 
army ;  and  Doctors  J.  J.  Woodward  and  Robert 
Beyburn,  stating  in  each  instance  the  reason  for 
so  doing.  He  said  that  was  eminently  satisfactory 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  237 

to   him.      I   then   turned   to   Mrs.    Garfield  and 
said,  — 

' '  If  you  desire  to  add  one  or  more  to  the  num 
ber  selected,  I  shall  be  happy  to  unite  them  to  our 
counsel.'  Her  reply  was, — 'I  would  not  add  one 
to  the  number  you  have  selected,  and  I  want  to 
say  to  you,  doctor,  that  you  shall  not  be  embar 
rassed  in  any  way  in  your  future  treatment  of  this 
case.'  Neither  the  President  nor  Mrs.  Garfield^ 
nor  any  member  of  the  household  from  that  time 
forward,  suggested  the  name  of  any  other  physi 
cian  except  the  eminent  counsel  called  from 
Philadelphia  and  New  York,  Doctors  Agnew  and 
Hamilton."  The  last-mentioned  physicians  arrived 
on  Monday  morning,  and  in  the  consultation  that 
followed  they  expressed  their  hearty  approval  of 
the  treatment  adopted.  While  so  much  uncer 
tainty  remained  as  to  the  exact  location  of  the 
ball,  it  was  folly  to  risk  the  President's  life  in  an 
attempt  to  remove  it. 


238  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

A  relapse.  —  Cooling  Apparatus  at  the  White  House.  —  The  President 
writes  a  Letter  to  his  Mother.  —  Evidences  of  Blood-Poisoning1. — 
Symptoms  of  Malaria.  —  Removal  to  Long  Branch.  —  Preparation 
for  the  Journey.  —  Incidents  by  the  way. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  twenty-third  of  July 
there  came  a  relapse.  While  the  physicians 
were  examining  and  dressing  his  wounds,  the 
President  experienced  a  slight  rigor,  followed 
by  an  increase  of  febrile  symptoms.  This  was 
evidently  owing  to  an  interruption  of  the  flow  of 
pus,  and,  on  the  twenty-fourth,  an  operation  was 
performed  upon  the  cavity,  by  which  the  patient 
was  relieved. 

The  intense  heat  of  those  July  days  was  very 
debilitating,  and  a  variety  of  ingenious  plans  were 
tried  to  lower  the  temperature  in  the  sufferer's 
room.  The  most  successful  experiment  was  that 
of  Mr.  Dorsay's,  which  was  based  on  the  system 
used  in  cooling  the  air  in  mines.  It  required  con 
siderable  machinery,  but  by  its  means  the  tempera 
ture  of  the  room  was  reduced  to  seventy-five 
degrees.  The  system  is  as  follows  :  A  stationary 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  239 

engine  is  first  employed  to  compress  the  air  which, 
when  crowded  into  less  space,  gives  out  a  large 
amount  of  hejat.  This  is  carried  away  by  running 
water,  and  as  soon  as  the  air  is  again  set  free,  it 
becomes  as  cool  by  expansion  as  it  had  before  been 
heated  by  compression. 

On  the  27th  of  July,  a  piece  of  the  fractured 
rib  was  removed  ;  the  President  was  again  able  to 
take  nourishing  food,  the  fever  subsided,  and  all 
the  bulletins  began  to  assume  a  cheerful  tone. 

And  so  the  long,  long  days  passed  by,  with  fre 
quent  alternations  of  hope  and  fear.  On  the  llth 
of  August  the  President  asked  for  pen  and  paper 
that  he  might  write  a  letter. 

"  Through  all  those  weary  weeks  of  pain, 

With  death's  dark  angel  nigh, 
But  once  to  grasp  the  accustomed  pen 
The  trembling  fingers  tiy. 

"  Those  brave  words  from  the  strong  man  bowed, 

Courageously  death  meeting, 
To  whom  amid  the  courtly  crowd 
Of  great  ones  sending  greeting  ? 

"  The  mother-bosom  beat  afar  — 

To  her  that  tender  letter ; 
To  her  —  through  life  his  guiding  star  — 
He  writes  he's  *  getting  better.'  " 

By  the  middle  of  August  it  was  evident  that  the 
President  was  suffering  from  pyaemia,  or  blood- 
poisoning.  The  swollen  parotid  gland  occasioned 


240  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES    OF 

fresh  solicitude,  and  the  stomach  refused  to  per 
form  its  ordinary  functions.  Nourishing  ene- 
meta  were  then  administered  with  excellent  results, 
and  the  lancing  of  the  parotid-swelling  afforded 
temporary  relief. 

The  sufferer  longed  for  a  change  of  air ;  the 
malarial  atmosphere  surrounding  the  White  House 
was  a  constant  drawback  to  his  recovery,  and 
early  in  September  the  physicians  decided  to 
remove  him  to  Long  Branch.  The  sixth  day  of 
the  month  was  appointed  for  the  removal,  anc( 
every  possible  precaution  was  taken  to  make  the 
journey  as  easy  as  possible.  The  bed,  and  the 
train  in  general,  were  inspected  the  day  before  by 
Surgeon-General  Barnes  and  Drs.  Bliss  and  Agnew. 
The  train  was  run  out  to  Benning's  Bridge,  five 
miles  from  Washington,  and  the  surgeons  thor 
oughly  tested  the  couch.  They  said  that  it  was 
perfect,  and  that  no  better  arrangement  could  have 
been  made  for  the  President's  journey.  In  the 
test  of  speed  the  doctors  were  surprised  to  find 
that  there  was  notably  less  motion  and  jar  at  forty 
miles  than  at  thirty. 

The  express  wagon  which  was  to  convey  the 
President  to  the  depot,  was  in  waiting  at  the  front 
entrance  to  the  Executive  Mansion  all  night.  It 
was  a  new  vehicle,  and  the  springs  being  well 
oiled,  could  not  impart  much  jarring  to  the  bed  on 
which  the  President  would  lie. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  241 

When  the  track  was  being  laid  through  Elberori, 
on  which  he  was  to  be  taken  to  the  Francklyn  cot 
tage  as  a  last  hope,  the  surveyor  apologized  to  a 
lady  whose  garden  it  laid  waste. 

"Your  flowers  have  required  the  labor  of  many 
summers,  madam,  and  we  shall  ruin  them,"  he 
said. 

"O  sir!"  she  cried,  "I  am  willing  you  should 
ruin  my  house  —  all  I  have,  if  it  would  help  to 
save  him  ! " 

There  was  to  be  a  double  departure  from  the 
White  House.  The  President's  sons,  Harry  and 
James,  were  to  start  for  Williams  College,  and 
shortly  before  ten  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  the 
fifth,  they  bade  their  father  good-by,  and  took 
leave  of  their  mother  who  was  hopeful  and  cour 
ageous,  believing  the  journey  to  Long  Branch 
would  save  her  husband's  life.  Their  countenances 
were  grave,  and  the  passers-by,  as  they  respect 
fully  made  way  for  them,  could  not  but  feel  that 
the  two  young  men  were  just  about  to  start  upon 
a  career  as,  possibly,  their  distinguished  father 
was  about  to  end  one. 

Private  Secretary  Brown  gives  the  following 
account  of  the  trip  to  Long  Branch  :  "  Upon  leav 
ing  the  Executive  Mansion  the  President  appeared 
to  enjoy  the  scenery  and  looked  around  inquiringly. 
All  the  way  from  the  White  House  to  the  depot 
the  President  was  very  anxious  to  observe  every- 


242  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SEKVICES   OF 

thing,  and  in  this  he  was  not  prevented.  He 
experienced  little  or  no  disturbance  in  being 
transferred  from  the  vehicle  to  the  car,  and  his 
pulse,  although  slightly  accelerated,  reaching  about 
115,  fell  to  about  106  before  the  train  started,  and 
shortly  afterward  fell  to  104  and  again  to  102. 
The  first  stop  of  the  train  was  made  at  Patapsco, 
at  which  point  the  parotid  gland  was  dressed. 
At  half-past  nine  o'clock  the  President's  pulse  was 
108  and  of  good  character.  At  that  hour  three 
ounces  of  beef  extract  were  administered.  Between 
Philadelphia  and  Monmouth  Junction,  the  special 
train  made  several  miles  at  the  rate  of  seventy 
miles  per  hour.  Bay  View,  this  side  of  Balti 
more,  was  reached  at  8.05,  and  a  brief  stop  was 
made  to  enable  the  surgeons  to  make  the  morning 
dressing  of  the  wound.  The  wound  was  found  to 
have  suffered  no  derangement  by  the  travel.  The 
dressing  was  soon  accomplished,  and  the  train, 
after  leaving  Bay  View,  was  run  at  the  rate  of 
about  fifty  miles  per  hour.  The  track  in  this 
locality  is  very  straight,  and  in  excellent  condition, 
and  though  the  speed  was  at  times  greater  than 
fifty  miles  per  hour,  the  vibration  of  the  Presi 
dent's  bed,  it  is  said,  was  no  more  than  had  the 
train  been  moving  twenty-five  miles  per  hour. 
The  attending  surgeons  feel  very  much  gratified 
with  the  manner  in  which  the  removal  was  con 
ducted,  and  are  generally  of  the  opinion  that,  with 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  243 

the  exception  of  being  slightly  fatigued,  the 
President  bore  the  journey  exceedingly  well." 

"This  is  a  great  journey,  Crete,"  he  said  to  his 
wife,  as  the  train  rushed  on  at  lightning  speed. 
"  Let  her  go  !  The  faster  the  better,"  he  added, 
when  the  doctors  expressed  their  fears  that  the 
rapid  motion  of  the  engine  would  tire  him. 

"  Don't  put  down  the  curtain !  I  want  to  see 
the  people  !  Let  them  look  in  !  "  he  exclaimed,  as 
he  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  eager,  anxious  crowds 
at  the  different  stations. 

One  of  the  Boston  dailies  wrote  as  follows  — 

"  In  the  preparations  for  the  trip  the  great  popu 
lar  solicitude  for  the  well-being  of  the  President 
infected  even  soulless  railroad  corporations,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called,  so  that  the  management  of 
the  lines  over  which  he  had  to  pass  could  not  do 
too  much  to  reduce  the  fatigue  or  other  injurious 
effect  of  the  jaunt.  It  is  a  credit  to  our  common 
humanity,  that  everybody  in  any  way  connected 
with  this  transfer  of  the  President,  from  the  me 
chanic  to  the  railroad  director,  required  no  spur 
but  his  own  feelings  to  exert  himself  to  the  utmost 
for  the  safety  and  comfort  of  him  who  had  suf 
fered  so  terribly,  and  evinced  such  grand  qualities 
under  the  most  adverse  circumstances.  No  rail 
road  train  was  ever  the  burden  of  so  much  anx 
ious,  prayerful  solicitation  as  that  conveying  the 
President  to  his  destination.  To  change  and  apply 


244  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

one  of  General  Garfield's  own  expressions .  the 
great,  heart  of  the  nation  must  have  nobly  sus 
tained  the  presidential  patient  as  he  sped  on  his 
way  to  a  locality  where,  it  is  hoped,  the  recuper 
ating  processes  of  nature  will  place  him  on  the 
high-road  to  convalescence. 

"  Our  despatches  note  the  arrival  of  the  presiden 
tial  train  at  different  points,  and  the  manner  in 
which  the  patient  bore  the  ride.  As  may  well  be 
imagined,  the  people  who  gathered  in  Washington 
to  see  him  on  board  the  train  could  not  help  re 
marking  his  generally  emaciated  appearance,  but 
he  was  sufficiently  strong  to  turn  upon  his  side  and 
wave  his  adieus  to  the  crowd.  The  fortitude  and 
will  of  the  President  are  as  surprising  as  the  many 
unusual  episodes  of  his  life.  " 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  245 


CHAPTER.   XXXIH. 

Description  of  the  Francklyn  Cottage.  —The  Arrival  at  Long  Branch 
—  The  President  is  Drawn  up  to  the  Open  Window.  —  Enjoys  the 
Sea  View  and  the  Sea  Breezes.  —  The  Surgical  Force  Reduced.  — 
Incident  on  the  Day  of  Prayer. 

"  THE  Francklyn  cottage  at  Long  Branch,  to 
which  the  President  was  taken,  is  about  fifty  yards 
southeast  of  the  hotel.  Its  front  is  within  one  hun 
dred  feet  of  the  edge  of  the  bluff,  from  which  a 
pebble  can  be  dropped  into  the  surf.  The  build 
ing  contains  twenty  rooms.  It  is  a  long,  rambling 
structure,  two  and  one-half  stories  high,  having 
seven  gables  and  being  in  fashion  a  mixture  of  the 
Queen  Anne  and  Swiss  chalet  style.  The  lower 
stories  are  painted  a  sienna  color,  and  gables  and 
roof  a  dark  slate. 

"  A  perfectly  smooth  lawn  of  well-kept  turf  sur 
rounds  it  upon  every  side.  Its  interior  apartments 
are  perfect ;  the  kitchen  is  separated  from  the  main 
part  of  the  building  by  a  covered  driveway,  and 
none  of  the  culinary  odors  can  reach  the  dwelling 
portion.  Two  spacious  parlors  and  an  immense 


246  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

dining-hall  faces  the  ocean,  and  a  broad  double  win 
dow  opens  upon  a  large  uncovered  veranda  about 
six  feet  above  the  ground,  surrounded  by  a  high 
railing. 

"  The  west  or  rear  part  of  the  dining-hall  opens 
upon  the  main  hall,  a  roomy  thoroughfare,  from 
which  by  the  landings  a  broad  flight  of  stairs  ascend 
to  the  second  floor.  The  stairs  are  of  ample  width, 
and  allowed  the  President's  bed  to  be  carried  up 
them  without  difficulty.  The  chamber  occupied 
by  the  President  is  in  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
building.  It  is  about  twenty  feet  square.  There 
is  one  broad  window  facing  the  ocean  on  the  east, 
and  the  windows  facing  the  ocean  on  the  south. 
By  leaving  the  door  of  the  chamber  open  a  breeze 
can  be  obtained  from  every  point  of  the  compass 
except  the  north.  The  windows  are  protected 
from  the  sun  by  awnings  and  blinds." 

The  appointments  of  the  chamber  are  perfect 
in  every  respect,  being  left  just  as  Mr.  Franck- 
lyn's  family  occupied  it.  About  one  hundred 
yards  south  of  the  Francklyn  cottage  is  the  cot 
tage  belonging  to  the  hotel  assigned  to  Mrs.  Gar- 
field  and  her  family. 

It  was  about  a  quarter  past  one  when  the  Presi 
dent's  train  was  observed  slowly  making  its  way 
over  the  new  track  at  Long  Branch.  There  was 
no  whistling,  no  bell-ringing,  no  loisy  puffing  of 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  247 

the  engine,  no  shouts  nor  cheers.  A  powerful 
locomotive  slowly,  and  almost  silently,  pushed  be 
fore  it  the  cars  of  the  train,  the  centre  one  being 
the  President's. 

The  train  stopped  opposite  the  Elberon,  and 
immediately  many  flocked  about  it  to  learn  the 
particulars  of  the  journey.  All  were  told  that 
the  trip  had  been  successful,  and  the  President 
was  quite  as  well  as  when  he  started.  The  delay 
was  but  for  a  moment.  The  forward  car  was  un 
coupled  from  the  train  and  a  large  force  of  men, 
held  in  readiness,  gently  pushed  it  around  the 
quarter  circle  and  past  the  entrance  to  the  cottage. 
It  was  occupied  by  a  few  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
the  President's  household,  who  at  once  left  it  and 
were  escorted  into  the  house. 

Another  gang  of  men  pushed  on  the  President's 
car  close  after  it.  It  was  stopped  at  the  proper 
place,  and  immediately  a  soldier  mounted  by  lad 
der  to  the  roof  and  the  sailcloth  awning  was 
raised.  It  did  not,  however,  completely  conceal 
the  passage  on  the  side  where  the  people  were 
gathered.  The  planks  were  put  in  position,  and 
in  a  moment  two  or  more  soldiers  were  seen  to 
pass  bearing  a  low  bedstead.  Many  thought  that 
the  President  was  resting  on  it,  but  this  was  a 
mistake. 

Three  or  four  minutes  later  a  mattrass  on  which 


248  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

was  plainly  discernible  under  snowy  coverings  the 
form  of  a  human  body,  was  steadily  and  gently, 
almost  solemnly,  borne  from  the  car  to  the  house, 
while  two  or  three  hundred  spectators,  too  far 
away  and  on  too  low  a  level  to  catch  sight  of  the 
face,  held  their  breath  in  sympathy,  their  eyes 
meantime  moist  with  tears  they  cared  not  to  con 
ceal,  and  many  doubtless  praying  with  deep  earn 
estness  that  this  heroic  effort  to  save  a  precious 
life  would  avail.  There  was  not  a  cheer,  not  an 
audible  sound  uttered  by  any  one.  Few  scenes 
could  be  more  impressive  in  their  silence  and  their 
sympathy. 

"  Please  move  me  up  where  I  can  see  the  water," 
said  the  President,  soon  after  being  placed  in  bed. 
His  couch  was  immediately  pushed  up  to  the  wide 
open  window ;  he  was  slightty  raised  upon  it,  and 
lay  there  for  some  minutes  looking  out  upon  the 
sea.  Although  he  was  greatly  fatigued  by  the 
journey  and  his  pulse  was  high,  he  slept  better 
that  night  than  he  had  done  for  weeks. 

"  Don't  you  think  I  look  better  !  "  he  said  next 
morning  to  one  of  the  attendants  ;  "I  feel  better," 
he  added.  "  This  is  good  air." 

Previous  to  leaving  Washington,  after  it  had 
been  determined  to  remove  the  President  to  Long 
Branch,  it  appears  the  President  asked  his  wife  if 
all  the  attending  surgeons  were  going  along.  Mrs. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  249 

Garfield  replied  that  she  presumed  they  were. 
The  President  then  expressed  an  opinion,  the 
effect  of  which  was  that  he  did  not  see  why 
that  was  necessary.  Further  discussion  on  the 
subject  brought  out  the  President's  wishes,  and  the 
withdrawal  of  Drs.  Reyburn,  Barnes,  and  Wood 
ward  was  the  result.  Dr.  Bliss  stated  that  there 
was  no  cause  for  the  withdrawal  or  retirement  of 
the  surgeons  beyond  the  fact  that  it  was  the  desire 
or  whim  of  a  very  sick  man,  and,  as  the  President 
had  entertained  the  idea  that  a  fewer  number  of 
physicians  could  manage  his  case  as  well  as  the 
number  heretofore  engaged  upon  it,  it  was  desired 
by  Mrs.  Garfield  that  his  wishes  be  complied 
with.  The  doctor  stated  further  that  the  best  of 
feeling  prevailed  among  the  entire  corps  of  sur 
geons,  and  that  the  retirement  of  Messrs. 
Reyburn,  Barnes  and  Woodward  would  not  in 
any  manner  affect  the  intimacy  which  had  grown 
up  between  them  since  the  President  was  shot. 
After  the  wish  of  the  President  was  made  known 
to  one  of  the  attending  surgeons  in  Washington 
by  Mrs.  Garfield,  a  consultation  on  the  subject 
took  place,  resulting  in  its  reference  to  Dr.  Agnew, 
with  a  view  to  obtaining  his  opinion  as  to  the  best 
mode  of  procedure.  Dr.  Agnew  recommended 
that  the  President  be  requested  to  name  the  sur 
geons  he  was  desirous  of  retaining  in  charge  of 


250  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

his  case,  which  was  done.  Dr.  Bliss,  it  appears, 
objected  to  assuming  the  entire  responsibility  of 
removing  the  President  to  Long  Branch,  and 
insisted  that  the  entire  number  of  surgeons  should 
accompany  the  patient  thither.  A  compromise 
was  then  effected,  which  was  that  all  the  surgeons 
should  come  to  Long  Branch  with  the  President, 
but  upon  arrival,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  possible, 
the  three  mentioned  should  retire. 

The  following  day,  September  8th,  as  the  Presi 
dent  sat  in  his  reclining  chair  by  the  open  window 
he  heard  the  stroke  of  bells  from  the  little  church 
across  the  way. 

"Crete,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  "what  are  they 
ringing  that  bell  for  ?  " 

"Why,"  said  Mrs.  Garfield,  who  had  been  wait 
ing  for  the  surprise,  "the  people  are  all  going 
there  to  pray  for  you  to  get  well ;  and  I  am  going 
to  pray  too,  James,"  she  added,  "that  it  may  be 
soon,  for  I  know  already  that  the  other  prayer  has 
been  heard." 

From  where  he  lay,  Garfield  could  see  the 
carriages  draw  up  and  group  after  group  go  in. 
He  could  even  hear  the  subdued  refrain  of  "Jesus, 
lover  of  my  soul,"  as  it  was  borne  by  on  its  heav 
enward  way. 

Thrilled  with  emotion,  a  tear  trickled  down  the 
President's  face.  After  a  while,  a  sweet  woman's 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  251 

voice    arose,    singing   from  one   of    Sir    Michael 
Costa's  noblest  oratorios. 

"Turn  thou  unto  me  and  have  mercy  upon  me," 
sang  the  voice,  "for  I  am  desolate ;  I  am  desolate 
and  afflicted ;  the  troubles  of  my  heart  are  en 
larged.  Oh,  bring  thou  me  out  of  my  distresses, 
out  of  my  distresses,  my  God." 


252  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Hopeful  Symptoms.  —  Official  Bulletin.  — Telegram  to  Minister 
Lowell.  —  Incidents  at  Long  Branch.  —  Sudden  Change  for  the 
Worse.  —  Touching  Scene  with  his  Daughter. — Another  Gleam 
of  'Hope.  —  Death  ends  the  Brave  Heroic  Struggle.  —  The  Closing 
Scene. 

ON  the  evening  of  September  12th,  the  follow 
ing  official  bulletin  was  published  :  — 

LONG  BRANCH,  Sept.  12  —  6  P.  M. 
The  President  has  experienced  since  the  issue  of  the  morn 
ing  bulletin  further  amelioration  of  symptoms.     He  has  been 
able  to  take  an  ample  amount  of  food  without  discomfort, 
and  has  had  several  refreshing  naps.     At  the  noon  exami 
nation  the  temperature  was  99.2,  pulse  106,  respiration  20. 
At  5.30  P.  M.  the  temperature  was  98.6,  pulse  100,  respira 
tion  18.  D.  W.  BLISS. 

D.  HAYES  AGNEW. 

The  Atforney-General  telegraphed  :  — 

To  Lowell,  Minister,  London  —  10  P.  M.  —  In  the  absence 
of  Mr.  Blaine  the  attending  physicians  have  requested  me  to 
inform  you  of  the  President's  condition.  He  has  during  the 
day  eaten  sufficient  food  with  relish,  and  has  enjoyed  at  in 
tervals  refreshing  sleep.  His  wound  and  the  incisions  made 
by  the  surgeons  all  look  better,  the  parotid  gland  has  ceased 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  253 

suppuration,  and  may  be  considered  as  substantially  well. 
He  has  exhibited  more  than  his  usual  cheerfulness  of  spirits, 
his  temperature  and  respiration  are  now  normal,  and  his 
pulse  is  less  frequent  and  firmer  than  at  the  same  hour  last 
evening.  Notwithstanding  these  favorable  symptoms,  the 
condition  of  the  lower  part  of  the  right  lung  will  continue 
to  be  a  source  of  anxiety  for  some  days  to  come. 

MACYEAGH. 

The  day  before  the  President  had  been  raised  on 
his  air  pillows,  so  that  he  lay  looking  out  on  the 
lawn  beneath  his  window,  and  beyond  that  to  the 
sea.  A  soldier  on  duty  as  a  guard  was  patrolling 
his  beat  at  the  edge  of  the  bluff.  The  soldier 
chanced  to  look  toward  the  window  of  the  sick 
chamber,  and  the  suffering  President  feebly  raised 
his  hand  to  give  the  old  soldier  a  salute.  The  Pres 
ident  of  the  United  States  never  received  a  more 
heartfelt  salute  than  the  old  soldier  gave  in  return 
for  this  gracious  salutation,  and  about  the  camp  all 
day  the  soldier,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  told  how  the 
great  sufferer  had  honored  him.  But  the  incident 
was  of  more  than  sentimental  value,  in  that  it 
showed  that  the  President  took  an  interest  in  his 
surroundings,  and  had  vitality  enough  to  tender  a 
salute.  There  were  hours  at  Elberon,  when  the 
listless  eyes  would  have  looked  out  upon  the  sea 
and  not  have  recognized  the  soldier. 

When  Secretary  Hunt  called  on  the  President, 
he  informed  him  that  there  was  no  business  in  his 
department  requiring  his  (the  President's)  atten- 


254      LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

tion.  It  had  been  the  custom  of  the  President  to 
refer  to  the  secretary  in  various  nautical  terms, 
and  after  shaking  the  hand  of  the  President  the 
secretary,  pointing  toward  the  ocean,  remarked, 
"  Well,  Mr.  President,  I  see  you  have  had  to  re 
sort  to  my  domain. "  "  Yes,"  said  the  President, 
"there  it  is,  and  isn't  it  beautiful?" 

Everything  seemed  to  indicate  certain,  though 
it  might  be  slow,  recovery.  The  people  read  the 
bulletins,  and  went  about  their  work  with  renewed 
hope  and  courage.  On  the  17th  of  September, 
however,  Dr.  Hamilton  stated  that  "the  conditions, 
altogether,  were  more  hazardous  than  at  any  time 
since  the  patient  had  been  at  Long  Branch." 
Severe  rigors  had  been  followed  by  increased 
pulse,  and  there  was  constant  danger  of  his  sink 
ing  into  a  comatose  state. 

On  the  morning  of  the  19th  Dr.  Agnew  re 
marked,  — 

"  The  vitality  of  our  patient  is  something  more 
remarkable  than  I  have  ever  met  with  in  all  my 
practice." 

The  President  awoke  from  a  light  slumber,  and 
said  to  Dr.  Bliss, — 

"  Doctor,  I  feel  very  comfortable,  but  I  also  feel 
dreadfully  weak.  I  wish  you  would  give  me  the 
hand-glass  and  let  me  look  at  myself." 

General  Swaim  said:  "Oh,  no,  don't  do  that, 
general.  See  if  you  cannot  get  some  sleep." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  255 

tf  I  want  to  see  myself,"  the  President  replied. 

Mrs.  Garfield  then  gave  him  the  hand-glass. 
He  held  it  in  a  position  which  enabled  him  to  see 
his  face.  Mrs.  Garfield,  Dr.  Bliss,  Dr.  Agnew,  . 
General  Swaim,  and  Dr.  Boynton,  stood  around 
the  bed,  saying  not  a  word,  but  looking  at  the 
President.  He  studied  the  reflection  of  his  own 
features.  At  length  he  wearily  let  the  glass  fall 
upon  the  counterpane,  and,  with  a  sigh,  said  to 
Mrs.  Garfield,  — 

"  Crete,  I  do  not  see  how  it  is  that  a  man  who 
looks  as  well  as  I  do  should  be  so  dreadfully 
weak." 

In  a  moment  or  two  he  asked  for  his  daughter 
Mollie.  They  told  him  that  she  would  see  him 
later  in  the  day.  He  said,  however,  that  he 
wanted  to  see  her  at  once. 

When  the  child  went  into  the  room  she  kissed 
her  father,  and  told  him  that  she  was  glad  to  see 
that  he  was  looking  so  much  better. 

He  said  :  "  You  think  I  do  look  better,  Mollie  ?  " 

She  said :  "  I  do  papa,"  and  then  she  took  a 
chair  and  sat  near  the  foot  of  the  bed. 

A  moment  or  two  after,  Dr.  Boynton  noticed 
that  she  was  swaying  in  the  chair.  He  stepped  up 
to  her,  but,  before  he  could  reach  her,  she  had 
fallen  over  in  a  faint.  They  carried  her  out  where 
she  could  get  the  fresh  breeze  from  the  ocean,  and, 
after  restoratives  were  applied,  she  speedily  recov- 


256  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

ered.  The  room  was  close,  the  windows  were 
closed,  and,  as  Miss  Mollie  had  not  been  very 
well,  all  these  causes,  combined  with  anxiety,  in 
duced  the  fainting-fit. 

The  President,  they  thought,  had  not  noticed 
what  had  happened  to  his  petted  child,  for  he 
seemed  to  have  sunk  into  the  stupor  which  had 
characterized  his  condition  much  of  the  time. 
But,  when  Dr.  Boynton  came  back  into  the  room, 
he  was  astonished  to  hear  the  President  say,  — 

"Poor  little  Mollie.  She  fell  over  like  a  log. 
What  was  the  matter?  " 

They  assured  the  President  that  the  fainting-fit 
was  caused  by  the  closeness  of  the  room,  and 
that  she  was  quite  restored.  He  again  sank  into 
a  stupor  or  sleep,  which  lasted  until  the  noon  ex 
amination. 

Hope  returned  during  the  afternoon,  as  there 
was  no  recurrence  of  the  rigors,  and  the  evening 
bulletin  was  more  encouraging  than  the  one 
issued  at  noon.  There  seemed  to  be  every  indi 
cation  that  the  President  would  pass  a  comfortable 
night. 

"Dr.  Bliss,"  said  the  Attorney-General,  "at 
9.30,  went  to  the  cottage  to  make  his  final  exami 
nation  before  he  retired  for  the  night.  He  found 
that  the  pulse,  temperature,  and  respiration  were 
exactly  as  they  were  when  the  evening  bulletin 
was  issued.  There  had  been  no  change  of  any 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  257 

kind.  There  was  every  promise  of  a  quiet  night. 
All  of  the  doctors  retired  at  once  for  the  night,  as 
did  all  of  the  attendants,  except  General  Swaim  and 
Colonel  Rockwell.  They  remained,  and  nothing 
transpired  until  about  10.20;  then  the  President 
said,  f  I  am  suffering  great  pain.  I  fear  the  end 
is  near.'  The  attendant  sent  for  Dr.  Bliss,  who 
had  retired  to  Private  Secretary  Brown's  cottage. 
Dr.  Bliss  came  very  rapidly.  When  he  entered 
the  room  he  found  that  the  President  was  in  an  un 
conscious,  state,  and  that  the  action  of  the  heart 
had  almost  ceased.  Dr.  Bliss  said  at  once  that  the 
President  was  dying,  and  directed  the  attendants 
to  send  for  Mrs.  Garfield  and  Drs.  Agnew  and 
Hamilton." 

A  Herald  postscript  had  the  following  from 
Long  Branch  :  "  The  death-bed  scene  of  the  Pres 
ident  was  a  peculiarly  sad  and  impressive  one. 
As  soon  as  the  doctors  felt  that  there  was  no  hope, 
the  members  of  the  family  assembled.  The  lights 
in  the  sick-room  were  turned  down.  Dr.  Bliss 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  bed  with  his  hand  on  the 
pulse  of  the  patient,  and  consulted  in  low  whispers 
with  Dr.  Agnew.  The  private  secretary  stood  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  bed,  with  Mrs.  Garfield. 
Miss  Lulu  Eockwell  and  Miss  Mollie  Garfield 
came  into  the  room  at  the  time  the  President  lost 
consciousness.  Those  about  the  bed  occasionally 
went  into  the  corners  of  the  room  and  spoke  to 


258  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

each  other.  The  solemnity  of  the  occasion  fully 
impressed  itself  upon  them.  There  was  no  sound 
heard  except  the  gasping  for  breath  of  the  sufferer, 
whose  changing  color  gave  indication  of  the  near 
approach  of  the  end.  After  he  had  repeated  'It 
hurts,'  he  passed  into  a  state  of  unconsciousness, 
breathing  heavily  at  times  and  then  giving  a  slight 
indication  that  the  breath  of  life  was  still  in  his 
body.  The  only  treatment  that  was  given  was 
hypodermic  injections  of  brandy  by  Dr.  Agnew, 
assisted  by  Dr.  Boynton.  Occasionally  they  spoke 
with  Dr.  Bliss  in  quiet  whispers.  The  President 
suffered  no  pain  after  the  time  he  placed  his  hand 
upon  his  heart.  He  passed  away  almost  quietly. 
The  line  between  life  and  death  was  marked  by  no 
physical  exhibition,  nor  any  word.  There  was 
absolutely  no  scene.  The  intervals  between  gasp- 
ings  became  longer  and  presently  there  was  no 
sound.  Every  one  present  knew  that  death  had 
come  quickly  without  pain.  When  it  became  evi 
dent  that  he  was  dead,  Mrs.  Rockwell  placed  her 
arm  around  Mrs.  Garfield  and  led  her  quietly  from 
the  room.  She  uttered  no  word.  One  by  one  the 
spectators  left  the  scene,  the  doctors  only  re 
maining  in  the  room,  and  windows  were  closed. 
Directly  afterward  Private  Secretary  Brown  tele 
graphed  the  boys,  James  and  Harry,  at  Williams 
College,  Mass.,  and  Mrs.  Eliza  Garfield.  Those 
were  the"  first  despatches  sent  after  the  death." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  259 

The  following  and   last  "official  bulletin"  was 
issued  at  Elberon  :  — 

V 

September  19th,  at  half-past  eleven,  P.  M. 
"  The  President  died  at  10.35  P.  M.  After  the  bulletin 
was  issued  at  5.30  this  evening,  the  President  continued  in 
much  the  same  condition  as  during  the  afternoon,  the  pulse 
varying  from  102  to  106,  with  rather  increased  force  and 
volume.  After  taking  nourishment  he  fell  into  a  quiet 
sleep  about  thirty-five  minutes  before  his  death,  and  while 
asleep  his  pulse  rose  to  120,  and  was  somewhat  more  feeble. 
At  ten  minutes  after  ten  o'clock  he  awoke,  complaining  of 
severe  pain  over  the  region  of  the  heart,  and  almost  imme 
diately  became  unconscious,  and  ceased  to  breathe  at  10.35. 
(Signed)  D.  W.  BLISS. 

FRANK  H.  HAMILTON. 
D.  HAYES  AGNEW. 


260  LITE    AND   PUBJLIC    SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

The  Midnight  Bells. — Universal  Sorrow. — Queen  Victoria's  Mes 
sages.  —  Extract  from  a  London  Letter.  —  The  Whit-by  Fisher 
men.  —  The  Yorkshire  Peasant.  —  World- wide  Demonstrations  of 
Grief. 

"  There  passed  a  sound  at  midnight  through  the  land, 
A  solemn  sound  of  sorrow  and  of  fear; 
A  sound  that  fell  on  every  wakening  ear 
Bearing  a  message  all  could  understand." 

THE  tolling  of  the  bells  in  every  city,  town,  and 
village  throughout  the  country  announced  the  sad 
tidings  of  the  President's  death.  The  whole 
world  stopped  to  shed  a  sympathizing  tear,  and 
among  the  first  expressions  of  condolence  received 
by  Mrs.  Garfield  was  the  following  telegram  from 
Queen  Victoria :  — 

"  BALMORAL. 

"  Words  cannot  express  the  deep  sympathy  I  feel  with 
you.     May  God  support  and  comfort  you  as  He  alone  can. 
(Signed)  THE  QUEEN." 

To  Minister  Lowell  the  Queen  telegraphed  as 
follows :  — 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  261 

"  With  deep  grief  I  and  my  children  learn  the  sad  but 
not  unexpected  news  of  the  fatal  termination  of  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  President.  His  loss  is  a  great  misfortune.  I 
have  learned  with  deep  sorrow  that  the  President  has  passed 
away." 

Smalley,  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Tribune  writing  from  London  said,  — 

"  It  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Tues 
day,  by  English  time,  that  President  Garfield  died. 
An  hour  later  the  news  was  here,  and  some  of 
the  morning  papers  published  it  in  a  few  late  copies 
of  their  morning  edition.  It  was  known  in  the 
provinces  at  the  same  moment,  and  published  in 
the  same  way.  Before  I  say  anything  about  the 
feeling  it  evoked  in  high  places  and  with  the  gen 
eral  public,  1  should  like  to  mention  what  occurred 
in  the  to\vn  where  I  was  staying ;  Whitby,  a  fish 
ing  town  and  small  seaport  which  is  also  a  water 
ing-place  on  the  northeast  coast  of  Yorkshire. 
At  this  season  Whitby  ;s  the  rendezvous  for 
herring-fishers,  and  its  little  harbor  is  crowded 
with  boats  hailing  from  ports  all  the  way  from 
Pentland  Firth  to  Penzance  ;  Perizance  itself  send 
ing  a  large  contingent.  The  fishermen  are  a  simple 
folk,  leading  a  hard  life,  untaught,  and  as  free 
from  any  concern  on  shore  in  the  general  affairs  of 
the  world  as  any  body  of  men  that  could  be  got 
together.  But  when  they  heard  that  President 
Garfield  was  dead  they  one  and  all  hoisted  their 


262  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

bits  of  flag  at  half-mast,  and  so  kept  them  during 
the  day.  They  held  no  meeting,  passed  no  reso 
lutions.  I  suppose  not  a  man  among  them  could 
have  made  a  speech  or  drawn  up  a  formal  decla 
ration  of  sorrow.  They  acted  with  no  concert  of 
any  kind.  Their  way  of  life  makes  them  all  rivals 
and  often  enemies.  Hartlepool  has  nothing  to  say 
to  Lowestoft,  Sunderland  quarrels  with  Arbroath, 
and  Whitby  itself  keeps  but  ill  terms  with  any  of 
its  many  guests.  But  somehow  they  agreed  for 
this  once.  The  boats  that  lay  in  the  river  above 
the  bridge,  next  the  railway  station,  were  the  first 
to  hang  out  their  signal  of  grief.  Those  in  the 
port  below  soon  followed.  Not  long  after,  without 
anybody  being  able  to  say  how  the  news  spread, 
the  fleet  at  anchor  outside  the  harbor  one  by  one 
ran  up  their  ensigns,  hauled  them  half  down,  and 
there  made  them  fast  for  the  day. 

"Amid  the  innumerable  demonstrations  of  sor 
row  to  be  seen  and  heard  these  last  two  days  all 
over  England,  I  know  of  none  which  more  truly 
indicates  the  essentially  popular  character  of  the 
regret  which  the  President's  death  has  excited. 

An  English  friend  who  was  shooting  ten 

days  ago  over  a  Yorkshire  moor  told  me  that,  as 
the  scattered  line  of  sportsmen  were  pushing 
through  the  heather  in  silence,  the  gamekeeper 
met  him  some  yards  away,  turned  and  asked : 
'Can  you  tell  me,  sir,  how  President  Garfield  is?' 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  263 

There  on  that  lonely  hillside,  three  thousand  miles 
and  more  distant  from  the  sufferer,  in  the  early 
morning,  beneath  a  sun  which  was  not  yet  shining 
upon  the  President,  breathing  an  air  he  never 
breathed,  this  Yorkshire  peasant,  who  had  spent 
his  life  without  so  much  as  hearing  the  President's 
name  till  a  few  weeks  before ;  who  knew  not  the 
letters  of  which  it  was  formed ;  who  knew  about 
grouse  and  guns  and  dogs  and  the  weather,  and 
nothing  else  whatever  ;  whose  interest  in  life  never 
went  beyond  the  stone  hut  in  which  he  slept  and 
ate,  and  the  stretch  of  furz-clad  upland  which 
lifted  itself  against  the  western  sky, —  he,  like  the 
fishermen,  had  come  to  think  or  to  feel  that,  some 
how  or  other,  the  life  or  death  of  that  far-away 
martyr  concerned  him  too.  It  is  easy  to  say  that 
beneath  the  shooting-jacket  and  the  jersey  beats 
the  same  human  heart.  No  doubt  it  does.  But 
what  was  it  that  set  it  beating  in  unison  with  so 
many  millions  of  others  like  it  with  sympathy  for 
the  President?  Lord  Palmerston  said  he  never 
knew  what  fame  was  till  he  heard  of  the  Tartar 
mothers  on  the  steppes  of  Russia  in  Asia  frighten 
ing  their  children  into  quiet  with  some  queer 
travesty  of  his  dreaded  name.  Yorkshire  is  not 
so  remote  as  Russian  Asia,  indeed,  but  the 
friendly  concern  of  the  gamekeeper  was  surely  a 
truer  measure  of  real  fame  than  the  ignorant  terror 
of  the  Muscovite  mother.  I  know  I  thought 


264  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

when  I  heard  it  that  the  President  who  lay  dying 
would  have  valued  such  a  proof  of  the  universal 
ity  of  the  interest  in  him  not  less  than  those 
expressions  of  it  —  certainly  not  less  genuine  — 
wrhich  came  from  much  higher  quarters." 

Said  another  writer : — 

"The  American  people  cannot  fail  to  be  deeply 
impressed  by  the  multitudinous  expressions  of 
sympathy  which  have  come  from  foreign  lands. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  there  would  be  the 
usual  and  formal  messages  from  the  various  rulers, 
but  it  is  something  of  quite  a  different  sort,  and 
something  altogether  beyond  precedent  which  we 
are  witnessing.  From  all  the  governments  of 
Europe,  and  from  those  of  the  Orient  as  well,  and 
from  our  nearer  neighbors,  Canada  and  Mexico, 
words  of  sympathy  and  condolence  have  come. 
But  beyond  all  this,  and  more  precious,  are  the 
manifestations  of  popular  feeling  in  countries  other 
than  our  own,  and  especially  in  Great  Britain 
and  Canada.  We  hear  of  public  and  private 
buildings  draped  in  mourning,  of  mourning-flags 
upon  English  Cathedrals,  of  the  tolling  of  bells 
in  English  and  Canadian  churches,  of  English  and 
French  journals  with  mourning  borders.  The 
Queen  sends  a  warm,  womanly  message  of  sym 
pathy  to  the  widow ;  and  the  English  Court  puts 
on  mourning  for  a  week.  And  all  these  world 
wide  demonstrations  of  grief,  sincere,  spontaneous 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  265 

and  universal,  are  called  out  by  the  death  of  this 
uncrowned  republican  of  our  Western  world,  a 
man  born  of  the  people,  schooled  in  hardship,  but 
strong  and  noble  in  all  that  pertains  to  true  man 
hood.  Such  a  spectacle  as  this,  such  tributes  as 
these  from  foreign  potentates  and  peoples  whose 
ideas  and  methods  of  government  vary  so  widely 
from  ours,  should  not  pass  without  being  heeded, 
and  the  lesson  which  they  convey  should  be  laid 
to  heart.  It  is  true,  as  one  of  the  leading  English 
journals  has  well  expressed  it,  that  a  common  sor 
row  unites  the  ocean-sundered  members  of  the 
English  race  to-day  more  closely  than  it  has  ever 
been  since  1776,  and  that  there  is  scarcely  an 
Englishman  in  a  thousand  who  did  not  read  of 
President  Garfield's  death,  with  a  regret  as  real 
and  as  deep  as  if  he  had  been  a  ruler  of  their 


266  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

The  Services  at  Elberon. — Journey  to  Washington. —  Lying  in 
State. —  Queen  Victoria's  Ottering. — Impressive  Ceremonies  in 
the  Capitol  Rotunda. 

ON  the  morning  of  September  twenty-first,  the 
black-doth  casket,  containing  all  that  was  mortal 
of  President  Garfield,  was  placed  in  the  parlor  of 
the  Francklyn  Cottage,  at  Long  Branch ;  and  for 
one  brief  hour,  a  motley  throng  of  city  people  and 
country  folk  were  permitted  to  look  upon  the 
wasted  form  of  one  they  had  learned  to  regard  as 
a  personal  friend. 

Brief  religious  services  were  read  by  Rev.  C.  J.. 
Young  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church  at  Long 
Branch,  and  then  Mrs.  Garfield  and  her  daughter, 
followed  by  the  members  of  the  Cabinet,  entered 
the  waiting  train ;  the  casket  was  placed  in  the 
funeral  car,  and  slowly,  sadly,  amidst  the  solemn 
tolling  of  the  bells,  the  heavily  draped  train  left 
the  Elberon  station.  At  Princeton  Junction,  three 
hundred  students  with  uncovered  heads  stood  on 
either  side  the  track,  and  scattered  choice  flowers 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  267 

beside  the  train  for  more  than  a  hundred  yards. 
Bells  were  tolled  in  all  the  towns  and  villages 
through  which  the  funeral  party  passed,  and  a 
reverent  stillness  prevaded  the  waiting  throngs  at 
the  various  stations  on  the  way. 

At  four,  P.  M.,  the  train  reached  Washington, 
and  the  casket  was  borne  at  once  to  the  Capitol. 

All  night  long  the  remains  of  the  martyred 
President  remained  exposed  to  view,  and  without 
cessation  the  stream  of  visitors  passed  through  the 
rotunda.  At  an  early  hour  in  the  morning  the 
throng  at  the  east  front  of  the  Capitol  began  to  in 
crease,  and  at  eight  o'clock  fully  five  thousand  peo 
ple  were  patiently  and  quietly  waiting  in  two  lines. 
From  that  hour  the  crowd  constantly  increased, 
and  at  eleven  o'clock  there  was  a  dense  mass  of 
people  in  front  of  the  main  steps  on  the  east  front, 
extending  for  two  squares  up  East  Capitol  Street. 
People  from  the  outlying  country  flocked  to  the 
city,  while  every  incoming  train  upon  the  several 
railroads  was  heavily  freighted  with  those  who  had 
come  to  testify  their  profound  sorrow  at  the  na 
tion's  bereavement. 

Queen  Victoria  had  telegraphed  to  the  British 
minister  to  have  a  floral  tribute  prepared  and  pre 
sented  in  her  name.  It  was  placed  at  the  bier  of 
the  President.  It  was  very  large,  and  was  an 
exquisite  specimen  of  the  florist's  art,  composed 
of  white  roses,  smilax  and  stephanotis.  It  was 


268  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

accompanied  by  a  mourning  card  bearing  the  fol 
lowing  inscription :  — 

"  Queen  Victoria  to  the  memory  of  the  late  President 
Garfield.  An  expression  of  her  sorrow  and  sympathy  with 
Mrs.  Garfield  and  the  American  nation. 

"  Sept.  22, 1881," 

By  half-past  one,  P.  M.,  on  Friday,  the  23d, 
arrangements  for  the  funeral  ceremonies  in  the  ro 
tunda  were  all  completed  and  the  chairs  and  sofas 
labelled  to  designate  for  whom  they  were  reserved. 
The  positions  of  the  floral  offerings  were  changed, 
and  now  nothing  remained  upon  the  casket  save  a 
few  branches  of  palm.  At  the  head  of  the  catafalque 
stood  a  broken  column  of  white  and  purple  flowers, 
surmounted  by  a  white  dove.  On  either  side  of  this 
were  tastefully  arranged  a  crown  and  a  pyramid 
of  roses.  At  the  foot,  and  resting  against  the 
black  drapery,  was  the  wreath  which  by  order  of 
the  queen  was  the  day  before  placed  upon  the  cas 
ket.  Arranged  on  each  side  of  this  offering  from 
the  queen  were  handsome  crosses,  while  at  their 
base  was  placed  a  magnificent  floral  pillow  on 
which  was  inscribed  in  violets  "Our  Martyr  Pres 
ident."  Next  to  this  was  placed  "The  Gates 
Ajar,"  which  also  attracted  much  admiration. 
The  Knights  of  Malta  contributed  a  large  Maltese 
cross,  and  the  Union  Veteran  corps  of  which  Gen 
eral  Garfield  was  a  member,  a  pillow  of  white 
flowers  bearing  in  violet  letters  the  inscription, 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  269 

"  U.  V.  C. ,  to  their  comrade."  The  whole  appear 
ance  of  the  catafalque  was  tasteful  and  elegant. 
In  front  of  the  chairs  which  were  placed  on  the 
south  side  of  the  casket  were  arranged  sofas  for 
the  accommodation  of  Mrs.  Garfield  and  the  family 
of  the  late  President.  Directly  opposite  and  on  the 
north  side  of  the  catafalque  seats  were  reserved 
for  the  members  of  the  cabinet  and  distinguished 
guests.  The  front  row  of  chairs  in  the  northwest 
ern  section  of  the  rotunda  were  placed  at  the  dis 
posal  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  while 
in  the  rear  of  these  several  rows  were  selected  for 
the  accommodation  of  senators.  The  representa 
tives  occupied  seats  on  the  southeastern  and  south 
western  sections.  Behind  these  a  row  of  chairs 
were  reserved  for  the  representatives  of  the  press, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  seats  in  that  section  were 
given  to  the  public  generally. 

At  exactly  quarter  to  two  o'clock  the  doors  of  the 
rotunda  were  opened.  The  first  society  to  arrive 
was  the  Knights  Templars,  Beausant  Commandery 
of  Baltimore.  They  entered  in  full  regalia,  but 
did  not  remain  in  the  hall,  simply  passing  around 
the  catafalque  in  double  file.  Four  of  their  num 
ber —  Sir  Knights  Stevens,  Lawton,  Butler  and 
Jennings  —  bore  a  floral  offering  in  the  shape  of 
an  immense  Maltese  cross,  which  was  reverently 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  dais.  At  ten  minutes 
past  two  the  army  of  the  Cumberland  filed  in  by 


270  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  door  leading  from  the  senate  chamber,  and 
took  the  seats  reserved  for  them.  Immediately 
after  the  doors  were  thrown  open  to  all  holders  of 
tickets. 

In  ten  minutes  the  chairs  set  apart  for  the  gen 
eral  public  were  completely  filled.  Soon  the 
members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  arrived,  and 
were  ushered  to  the  seats  reserved  for  them. 

Services  were  opened  by  Rev.  Dr.  Powers 
promptly  at  three  o'clock.  He  ascended  the  dais 
and  briefly  announced  the  opening  hymn,  "Asleep 
in  Jesus,  blessed  sleep,"  which  was  rendered  by 
a  choir  of  fifty  voices. 

Rev.  Dr.  Rankin  then  ascended  the  raised  plat 
form  at  the  head  of  the  catafalque,  and  read  in  a 
clear,  distinct  voice  the  scriptural  selections.  Rev. 
Dr.  Isaac  Errett  then  offered  prayer. 

Immediately  after  the  close  of  the  services  the 
floral  decorations  were  all  removed  (Mrs.  Garfield 
having  requested  that  they  be  sent  to  her  home  at 
Mentor)  except  the  beautiful  wreath,  the  gift  of 
Queen  Victoria,  which  had  been  placed  upon  the 
head  of  the  coffin  when  the  lid  was  closed,  and 
which  remained  there  when  the  coffin  was  borne  to 
the  hearse,  and  will  be  upon  it  till  the  remains  are 
buried.  This  touching  tribute  of  Queen  Victoria 
greatly  moved  Mrs.  Garfield,  as  only  a  woman  can 
feel  a  woman's  sympathy  at  the  time  of  her  great 
est  earthly  sorrow. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  271 

The  coffin  having  been  placed  in  the  hearse,  a 
single  gun  was  fired  from  Hanneman's  battery, 
the  Second  Artillery  Band  struck  up  a  funeral 
march,  and  the  procession  moved  around  the  south 
front  of  the  Capitol  to  the  avenue.  At  least 
40,000  people  were  gathered  about  the  Capitol  to 
witness  the  start  of  the  procession,  while  along  the 
line  of  march  to  Sixth  Street  the  crowd  was  even 
greater  than  on  the  4th  of  March.  Everywhere 
it  was  most  orderly  and  quiet ;  and  as  the  hearse 
containing  the  remains  moved  along  the  avenue, 
from  the  very  door  of  the  Capitol  to  the  entrance 
of  the  depot,  all  heads  were  uncovered. 

On  reaching  the  depot  the  military  were  drawn 
up  in  line  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  street, 
facing  the  Sixth  Street  entrance.  The  remains 
were  borne  from  the  hearse  upon  the  shoulders  of 
six  soldiers  of  the  Second  Artillery  and  placed  in 
the  funeral  car.  The  ten  officers  from  the  army 
and  navy,  selected  as  the  guard  of  honor,  stood 
with  uncovered  heads  as  the  remains  were  taken 
from  the  hearse,  and  then  escorted  them  to  the 
car.  The  diplomatic  corps  and  others  who  were 
not  going  upon  either  of  the  trains  did  not  alight 
from  their  carriages.  President  Arthur  entered 
the  depot  with  Secretary  Elaine,  and  a  few  min 
utes  after  entered  the  Secretary's  carriage,  and 
with  Ex-President  Grant  was  driven  up  the  avenue 
to  his  temporary  home  at  the  residence  of  Senator 


272  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Jones  of  Nevada.  To  avoid  the  crowd  about  the 
depot,  Mrs.  Garfield  was  taken  to  the  corner  of 
Maine  Avenue  and  Sixth  Street,  and  an  engine 
and  two  cars,  including  the  one  intended  for  her 
use,  were  run  down  the  track,  and  she  was  taken 
on  board  the  train  without  attracting  any  attention. 
The  funeral  train  was  the  same  used  on  the  trip 
from  Long  Branch,  with  two  additional  cars. 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD.  273 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

Journey  to  Cleveland.  —  Lying  in  State  in  the  Catafalque  in  the 
Park.  —  Immense  Concourse.  —  Funeral  Ceremonies. —  Favorite 
Hymn.  —  At  the  Cemetery. 

THE  sad  journey  to  Cleveland  was  marked  at 
every  station  by  touching  tributes  of  affection. 

After  lying  in  state  Saturday  and  Sunday  in  the 
catafalque  in  the  park  at  Cleveland,  the  remains  of 
President  Garfield  were  solemnly  committed  to 
the  tomb  at  Lake  View  Cemetery  with  solemn  and 
impressive  rites,  the  occasion  fittingly  reflecting 
the  great  sorrow  under  which  the  nation  lies. 

The  heat  of  Sunday  and  Monday  was  intense,  but 
until  the  closing  of  the  park  gates  in  the  forenoon 
previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  funeral  service, 
the  stream  of  people  passing  through  the  catafalque, 
to  view  the  casket  enclosing  the  remains,  was  con 
tinuous,  and  the  number  who  so  paid  their  last 
respects  must  have  aggregated  at  least  150,000. 

Promptly  at  half-past  ten  o'clock  the  ceremo 
nies  at  the  pavilion  began.  The  immediate  mem 
bers  of  the  family,  and  near  relatives  and  friends, 
took  seats  about  the  casket,  and  at  each  corner 
was  stationed  a  member  of  the  Cleveland  Grays. 
Dr.  J.  P.  Robinson,  president  of  the  ceremonies, 


274  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

announced  that  the  exercises  would  be  opened 
by  the  singing,  by  the  Cleveland  Vocal  Society, 
of  the  "Funeral  Hymn,"  by  Beethoven,  where 
upon  the  hymn  was  sung  as  follows  :  — 

"  Thou  art  gone  to  the  grave,  but  we  will  not  deplore  thee, 

Since  God  is  thy  ransom,  thy  guardian,  and  guide, 
The  Saviour  has  passed  through  its  portals  before  thee, 
And  Death  has  no  sting  since  the  sinless  hath  died." 

The  scripture  selections  were  then  read  by 
Eight  Rev.  Bishop  Bedell  of  the  Episcopal  Dio 
cese  of  Ohio. 

Rev.  Ross  C.  Houghton,  pastor  of  the  First 
Methodist-Episcopal  Church,  then  offered  prayer. 
After  which  the  Vocal  Society  sang  as  follows  :  — 

"  To  thee,  O  Lord  I  yield  my  spirit, 

Who  breaks  in  love  this  mortal  chain ; 

My  life  I  but  from  thee  inherit, 

And  death  becomes  my  chiefest  gain. 

In  thee  I  live,  in  thee  I  die, 

Content,  for  thou  art  ever  nigh." 

Rev.  Isaac  Errett  of  Cincinnati  then  delivered 
an  eloquent  address,  taking  for  his  text  the  follow 
ing  :  "  And  the  archers  shot  King  Josiah,  and  the 
king  said  to  his  servants,  *  Have  me  away,  for  I 
am  sore  wounded.'  His  servants  therefore  took 
him  out  of  that  chariot  and  put  him  in  the  second 
chariot  that  he  had,  and  they  brought  him  to  Jeru 
salem,  and  he  died  and  was  buried  in  one  of  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  275 

sepulchres  of  his  fathers,  and  all  Judah  and  Jeru 
salem  mourned  for  Josiah,  and  Jeremiah  lamented 
for  Josiah,  and  all  the  singing  men  and  singing 
women  spoke  of  Josiah  in  their  lamentation  to  this 
day,  and  made  them  an  ordinance  in  Israel,  and 
behold  they  are  written  in  the  Lamentations. 
Now  the  rest  of  the  acts  of  Josiah  and  his  good 
ness,  according  to  that  which  was  written  in  the 
law  of  the  Lord,  and  his  deeds,  first  and  last,  be 
hold,  they  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  Kings  of 
Israel  and  Judah.  For  behold  the  Lord,  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  doth  take  away  from  Jerusalem  and 
from  Judah  the  stay  and  the  staff,  the  whole  stay 
of  bread  and  the  whole  stay  of  wrater.  The 
mighty  man,  and  the  man  of  war,  and  the  prophet, 
and  the  prudent,  and  the  ancient,  the  captain  of 
fifty,  and  the  honorable  man,  and  the  counsellor, 
and  the  cunning  artificer,  and  the  eloquent  orator. 
The  voice  said  '  Cry,'  and  he  said  '  What  shall  I 
cry?'  All  flesh  is  grass,  and  all  the  godliness 
thereof  is  as  the  flower  of  the  field.  The  grass 
withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  because  the  spirit  of 
the  Lord  boweth  upon  it.  Surely  the  people  is 
grass ;  the  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth,  but 
the  word  of  our  God  shall  stand  forever." 

Dr.  Errett  was  listened  to  withfcclose  and  ear 
nest  attention.  He  spoke  for  forty  minutes,  and 
when  he  closed  a  hush  for  a  moment  hung  over 
the  vast  audience. 


276  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

Rev.  Jabez  Hall  then  read  President  Garfield's 
favorite  hymn, — 

"Ho  !  reapers  of  life's  harvest, 

Why  stand  with  rusted  blade 
Until  the  night  draws  round  ye, 

And  day  begins  to  fade  ? 
Why  stand  ye  idle  waiting 

For  reapers  more  to  come  ? 
The  golden  morn  is  passing : 

Why  sit  ye  idle,  dumb  ? 

Thrust  in  your  sharpened  sickle, 

And  gather  in  the  grain : 
The  night  is  fast  approaching, 

And  soon  will  come  again, 
The  master  calls  for  reapers ; 

And  shall  he  call  in  vain  ? 
Shall  sheaves  lie  there  ungathered, 

And  waste  upon  the  plain  ? 

Mount  up  the  heights  of  wisdom, 

And  crush  each  error  low ; 
Keep  back  no  words  of  knowledge 

That  human  hearts  should  know. 
Be  faithful  to  thy  mission, 

In  service  of  thy  Lord, 
And  then  a  golden  chaplet 

Shall  be  thy  just  reward." 

At  11.45,  Rev.  Dr.  James  S.  Pomeroy  delivered 
the  final  prayer,  and  pronounced  the  closing  bene 
diction.  *~ 

A  few  minutes  after  the  benediction  had  been 
pronounced,  the  casket  was  lifted  reverently  from 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  277 

its  resting-place,  and  borne  on  the  shoulders  of  the 
United  States  artillery  sergeants  who  had  acted 
as  its  special  bearers  from  Long  Branch  to  the 
funeral  car.  The  funeral  procession  moved  from 
Monumental  Park  at  11.55.  The  military  pre 
sented  a  magnificent  appearance.  The  column 
was  headed  by  that  veteran  volunteer  association, 
the  Boston  Fusileers,  who  had  travelled  from 
Massachusetts  in  order  to  pay  a  last  tribute  to 
their  deceased  comrade  by  participating  in  the 
obsequies.  They  were  followed  by  two  companies 
of  the  Seventy-Fourth  New  York,  the  Buffalo 
Cadets  and  the  Buffalo  City  Guards ;  next  came 
the  United  States  barracks  band  of  Columbus, 
followed  by  the  Governor's  Guard,  the  Toledo 
Cadets,  the  District  Infantry,  the  Washington 
Infantry  of  Pittsburg,  the  Gatling  Gun  and  Cleve 
land  Light  Artillery ;  then  followed  all  the  civic 
and  military  organizations,  in  the  order  of  march 
already  arranged,  excepting  that  the  Columbia 
Commandery  of  Knights  Templars  of  Washing 
ton  marched  with  the  guard  of  honor  and  pall 
bearers  in  the  division  having  charge  of  the 
funeral  car. 

Euclid  avenue,  for  its  six  miles  of  length, 
seemed  literally  shrouded  with  mourning  emblems, 
and  an  immense  concourse  numbering  hundreds  of 
thousands  watched  the  slow  progress  of  the  pro 
cession. 


278  LIFE    AXD    rUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

At  3.30  o'clock  the  procession  entered  the  gate 
way,  "which  was  arched  over  with  black,  with 
appropriate  inscriptions.  In  the  key-stone  were 
the  words,  "Come  to  rest."  On  one  side  were  the 
words,  "  Lay  him  to  rest  whom  we  have  learned  to 
love."  On  the  other,  "Lay  him  to  rest  whom  we 
have  learned  to  trust."  A  massive  cross  of  ever 
green  swung  from  the  centre  of  the  arch.  The 
United  States  Marine  Band,  continuing  the  sweet, 
mournful  strain  it  had  kept  up  during  the  entire 
march,  entered  first.  Then  came  the  Forest  City 
Troop,  of  Cleveland,  which  was  the  escort  of  the 
President  to  his  inauguration.  Behind  it  came  the 
funeral  car,  with  its  escort  of  twelve  United  States 
artillerymen,  followed  by  a  battalion  of  Knights 
Templars  and  the  Cleveland  Grays.  The  mourn 
ers'  carriages  and  those  containing  the  guard  of 
honor,  comprised  all  of  the  procession  that  entered 
the  grounds.  The  cavalry  halted  at  the  vault  and 
drew  up  in  line  facing  it,  with  sabres  presented. 
The  car  drew  up  in  front,  with  the  mourners' 
carriages  and  those  of  the  cabinet  behind.  The 
band  played  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee,"  as  the 
military  escort  lifted  the  coffin  from  the  car  and 
carried  it  into  the  vault,  the  local  committee  of 
reception,  Secretary  Blaine,  Marshal  Henry,  and 
one  or  two  personal  friends,  standing  at  either  side 
of  the  entrance. 

None  of  the  President's  family  except  two  of 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELP.  279 

the  boys,  left  the  carriages  during  the  exercises, 
which  occupied  less  than  half  an  hour. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Robinson,  as  president  of  the  day, 
opened  the  exercises  by  introducing  Rev.  J.  H. 
Jones,  Chaplain  of  the  Forty-Second  Ohio  Regi 
ment,  which  General  Garfield  commanded,  who 
made  a  short  address. 

After  an  ode  by  Horace,  sung  in  Latin  by  the 
German  Singing  Society,  Mr.  Robinson  announced 
the  late  President's  favorite  hymn,  "  Ho  !  Reapers 
of  Life's  Harvest,"  which  the  German  vocal 
societies  of  Cleveland  sang  with  marked  effect. 
The  exercises  closed  with  the  benediction  by 
President  Hinsdale,  of  Hiram  College. 

Re-entering  their  carriages  the  mourners  drove 
huriiedly  back  to  the  city,  to  avoid  another 
shower  which  was  threatened.  The  Military  and 
Masonic  escort  left  the  cemetery  in  the  same  order 
in  which  they  entered,  and  kept  in  line  until  the 
catafalque  was  reached,  where  they  were  dis 
missed. 


280  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Lakeview  Cemetery.  —  Talk  with  Garfield's  Mother.  —  First  Church 
where  he  Preached.  —  His  Religious  Experience.  —  Garfield  as  a 
Preacher. 

THE  lot  in  Lakeview  Cemetery  that  was  selected 
for  the  burial-place  is  on  the  brow  of  a  high 
ridge  commanding  an  extensive  view  of  Lake 
Erie.  It  was  the  President's  desire  that  his  last 
resting-place  might  be  in  this  beautiful  spot,  and 
his  mother,  speaking  of  it,  said, — 

"  It  is  proper  that  he  should  be  buried  in  Cleve 
land.  It  is  the  capital  of  the  county  in  which  he 
was  born,  and  of  the  section  where  he  grew  into 
prominence.  Mentor  had  been  his  home  but  a 
short  time,  although  he  had  intended  to  spend 
the  balance  of  his  life  there.  Most  of  his  years 
have  been  spent  in  Solon  and  Orange,  and  it 
seems  best  that  his  final  resting-place  should  be 
near  the  places  that  he  loved  the  best." 

The  brave  old  lady  trembled  with  emotion 
while  talking  of  her  son. 

"It  is  wonderful,"  she  said,  "how  I  live  upon 
the  thoughts  of  him.  I  ride  a  little  every  day  to 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  281 

get  the  fresh  air,  and  look  at  the  fields  and  woods 
he  loved  so  well." 

Mrs.  Garfield  was  with  her  daughter,  Mrs. 
Larrabee,  in  Solon,  Ohio,  when  the  last  sad  tidings 
came.  For  days  she  had  been  greatly  depressed 
— her  hopes  of  his  recovery  growing  fainter  with 
every  telegram  received. 

"  Oh  !  it  is  too  dreadful !  it  cannot  be  true  !  " 
she  exclaimed,  when  the  sad  news  was  gently 
broken  to  her.  It  was  some  time  before  she 
could  control  her  feelings.  At  last  she  murmured 
through  her  tears  :  "  God  knew  best,  but  it  is 
very  hard  to  bear  !  " 

A  few  days  later,  when  a  friend  called  to  see 
her,  she  said,  — 

"He  was  the  best  son  a  mother  ever  had  —  so 
good,  kind,  generous  and  brave.  Did  you  ever 
see  such  an  uprising?  That  ought  to  break  the 
fall  for  me,  but  it  doesn't  seem  to.  I  want  my 
boy." 

This  little  home  at  Solon  is  not  far  from  the 
spot  where  the  old  log  cabin  stood,  and  the  first 
frame  house  was  built. 

"I  am  glad  you  have  been  over  to  the  old 
homestead,"  added  the  old  lady  to  her  visitor. 
"My  son  loved  every  foot  of  it.  He  and  his 
brother  built  the  frame  house  for  me,  near  the  well 
where  the  pole  has  been  erected.  It  was  rude  car 
pentry,  but  they  both  took  their  first  lessons  on  it, 


282  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

and  I  always  loved  the  old  home.  It  was  burned 
down  just  after  we  left  it." 

The  humble  Church  of  the  Disciples,  where 
Garfield  first  preached,  is  close  by.  Once,  when 
addressing  some  young  people,  he  spoke  as 
follows  of  his  first  religious  experience, — 

"  Make  the  most  of  the  present  moment !  No 
occasion  is  unworthy  of  your  best  efforts.  God  in 
his  providence  often  uses  humble  occasions  and 
little  things  to  shape  the  whole  course  of  a  man's 
life.  I  might  say  that  the  wearing  of  a  certain 
pair  of  stockings  led  to  a  complete  change  in  my 
own  career.  I  had  made  one  trip  as  a  boy  on  a 
canal-boat,  and  was  expecting  to  leave  home  for 
another  trip.  But  I  accidentally  injured  my  foot 
in  chopping  wood.  The  blue  dye  in  the  yarn  of 
my  home-made  socks  poisoned  the  wound,  and  I 
was  kept  at  home.  Then  a  revival  of  religion 
broke  out  in  the  neighborhood.  I  was  thus  kept 
within  its  influence,  and  was  converted.  New 
desires  and  purposes  then  took  possession  of  me, 
and  I  determined  to  seek  an  education  that  I 
might  live  more  usefully  for  Christ.  You  can 
never  know  when  these  providential  turning-points 
in  your  life  are  at  hand  ;  so  seek  to  improve  each 
passing  day."  With  this  we  may  connect  the 
account  of  his  conversion  given  by  his  friend,  Rev. 
Isaac  Errett,  D.  D.,  of  Cincinnati.  "The  lad," 
he  says,  "  attended  these  meetings  for  several 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  283 

nights,  and  after  listening  night  after  night  to  the 
sermon,  he  went  one  day  to  the  minister,  and  said 
to  him :  '  Sir,  I  have  been  listening  to  your 
preaching  night  after  night,  and  I  am  fully  per 
suaded  that  if  these  things  you  say  are  true,  it  is 
the  duty  and  the  highest  interest  of  every  man, 
and  especially  of  every  young  man,  to  accept  that 
religion  and  seek  to  be  a  man ;  but  really  I  do  not 
know  whether  this  thing  is  true  or  not.  If  I  were 
sure  it  were  true,  I  would  most  gladly  give  it  my 
heart  and  my  life.'  So,  after  a  long  talk,  the 
minister  preached  that  night  on  the  text,  '  What 
is  truth?'  and  proceeded  to  show  that,  notwith 
standing  all  the  various  and  conflicting  theories 
and  opinions  of  men,  there  was  one  assured  and 
eternal  alliance  for  every  human  soul  in  Christ 
Jesus  as  the  Way  and  the  Truth  and  the  Life ; 
that  every  soul  would  be  safe  with  him ;  that  he 
never  would  mislead ;  and  that  any  young  man 
giving  him  his  hand  and  heart  would  not  go 
astray.  After  due  reflection,  young  Garfield 
seized  upon  this.  He  came  forward  and  gave  his 
hand  to  the  minister  in  pledge  of  the  acceptance  of 
the  guidance  of  Christ  for  his  life,  and  turned  his 
back  upon  the  sins  of  the  world  forever." 

"He  was  never  formally  ordained,"  says  one  of 
his  old  pupils  at  Hiram  Institute, ?f  hence  some  have 
inferred  that  his  preaching  was  confined  to  occa 
sional  and  unofficial  discourses.  But  while  he  was 


284  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

a  student  in  Williams  College  he  supplied  in 
vacations  and  at  other  times  the  pulpit  of  the 
Disciples'  church  at  Poestenkill,  a  few  miles  from 
Williamstown.  For  this  he  received  some  com 
pensation  which  assisted  him  in  his  course.  He 
had  the  ministry  in  view.  Becoming  Principal  at 
Hiram,  he  also  accepted  the  position  of  regular 
pastor  of  the  church  of  Disciples  in  that  town. 
This  office  he  filled  during  a  large  part  of  his 
Principalship,  bearing  its  responsibilities  and  re 
ceiving  what  compensation  attached  to  it.  It  was 
a  large  village  church,  and  the  only  one  in  the 
place,  except  a  small  Methodist  church.  He  was 
called  from  year  to  year.  The  people  loved  him 
as  their  pastor,  and  the  house  was  crowded  to  hear 
him  preach.  He  officiated  at  their  funerals,  and 
administered  the  ordinances  of  baptism  (which  was 
always  immersion)  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
fact  that  he  had  not  been  ordained  in  due  form  was 
not  objectionable  to  the  Disciples,  and  a  matter  of 
greater  indiiference  even  among  them  at  that  time 
than  it  would  be  perhaps  to-day.  Doubtless  his 
appointment  as  Principal  of  their  Institute  was  re 
garded  as  equivalent  to  a  sanction  of  his  full  minis 
try.  He  preached  Sunday  morning  and  afternoon, 
and  administered  the  communion  every  Sunday. 
In  the  evening  there  was  a  prayer-meeting.  The 
students  were  required  to  be  present  at  church  at 
least  twice  in  the  day.  He  always  preached  with- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  285 

out  notes,  with  great  simplicity  and  practicalness, 
interesting  persons  of  mature  years,  and  at  the  same 
time  taking  special  pains  to  reach  the  young. 
There  was  a  bright  little  boy  with  whom  he  was 
accustomed  to  talk  after  preaching,  to  make  sure 
that  he  had  been  understood.  In  prayer  he  im 
pressed  his  congregation  as  a  man  who  was  really 
speaking  with  God.  On  Saturday  afternoons  he 
visited  socially  among  the  people. 

In  1857  his  preaching  was  accompanied  by  a 
revival  of  religion.  Meetings  were  held  nearly 
every  night,  and  fifty-two  united  at  one  time  with 
the  church.  These  Mr.  Garfield  baptized  in  the 
open  air.  Many  of  the  converts  were  students, 
and  when  he  gave  them  the  hand  of  fellowship  at 
the  communion  table  he  presented  each  one  of 
them  with  a  copy  of  the  Word  of  God.  This  was 
not  the  only  time  he  led  candidates  into  baptismal 
waters.  There  were  frequent  occasions  of  this 
kind.  One  is  remembered  which  took  place  in  the 
evening  in  the  fall  of  the  year,  when  the  moon 
light  was  bright  enough  for  the  singers  to  read  the 
music  and  the  hymns.  He  entered  into  the  spirit 
of  such  scenes  with  great  devotion  and  zeal. 

o 

Garfield  always  held  to  that  side  which  empha 
sized  man's  need  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the 
necessity  of  believing  in  Christ  from  the  heart. 
This  he  always  enforced  in  his  preaching,  and  as 
urgently  declared  that  this  faith  must  be  followed 


286  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

by  obedience.  His  public  prayers  were  often 
addressed  to  Christ.  Our  informant  feels  sure 
that  he  was  far  from  being  a  Unitarian.  He  was 
not  pleased  with  the  way  in  which  Garfield,  in 
accordance  with  the  usages  of  the  Disciples,  re 
ceived  candidates  for  baptism,  and  one  day  said  to 
him  :  "  It  seems  to  me  that  your  practice,  Mr.  Gar- 
field,  is  hardly  consistent  with  your  doctrine  in 
this  matter.  You  preach  excellent  sermons  to  the 
impenitent,  and  point  out  the  way  of  salvation  in 
language  which  I  can  endorse ;  but  when  persons 
come  forward  for  baptism,  you  have  no  examination 
by  the  church  to  see  if  their  conversion  is  sound." 
The  answer  was  :  "I  show  them  clearly  that  they 
must  believe  from  the  heart.  If  they  say  they  do, 
I  leave  the  responsibility  with  them." 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  287 


CHAPTER    XXXIX. 

The  Sunday  Preceding  the  Burial. —The  Crowded  Churches.  —  The 
one  Theme  that  Absorbed  all  Hearts.  — Across  the  Water.  —  At 
Alexandra  Palace.  — At  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  —  At  Westminster 
Abbey.  —  Paris.  —  Berlin.  —  Extract  from  London  Times. 

ON  the  Sunday  that  the  remains  of  the  mar 
tyred  President  were  lying  in  state  at  Cleveland, 
the  churches  throughout  the  country  were  crowded 
with  congregations  in  sober  and  reverent  mood. 
One  thought  engrossed  all  minds,  and  one  topic 
alone  occupied  the  preacher's  desk. 

"It  was  most  touching,"  said  one  writer,  "to  see 
with  what  sympathy  and  sadness  every  apprecia 
tive  tribute  to  the  dead  President  was  received ; 
to  perceive  by  a  thousand  little  indications  how 
profoundly  this  great  event  absorbing  all  thoughts 
had  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  people  ;  to  detect  the 
unbidden  tears  stealing  down  the  cheeks  of  so 
many  women,  aye,  and  of  men  too.  The  minis 
ters  felt  the  inspiration  of  the  occasion,  and  were 
uplifted  by  it  to  greater  than  ordinary  eloquence, 
to  more  tender  and  more  hearty  words." 

Not  only  in  America  but  throughout  Europe  the 


288  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

mourning  crowds  were  gathered  to  offer  their 
tributes  of  respect.  At  the  Alexandra  Palace,  in 
London,  a  memorial  service  was  held,  at  which 
forty  thousand  persons  were  present,  many  of 
them  in  deep  mourning. 

St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was  crowded  to  overflow 
ing  at  the  announcement  that  the  services  would 
relate  to  the  death  of  President  Garfield.  When 
the  "Dead  March  in  Saul"  was  played  the  whole 
congregation,  numbering  many  thousands,  arose 
and  remained  standing,  all  showing  grief  and 
many  weeping.  Canon  Stubbs  preached,  and 
specially  referred  to  the  cruel  manner  of  Presi 
dent  Garfield's  death.  He  extolled  his  life  and 
virtues,  and  expressed  sympathy  for  the  sorrowing 
American  nation. 

The  following  sonnet  was  written  in  the  Cathe 
dral  just  after  the  luneral  anthem  for  President 
Garfield  had  been  sung, — 

SEPTEMBER  25. 

THROUGH  tears  to  look  upon  a  tearful  crowd, 
And  hear  the  anthem  echoing 
High  in  the  dome  till  angels  seem  to  fling 

The  chant  of  England  up  through  vault  and  cloud, 

Making  ethereal  register  aloud 

At  heaven's  own  gate.     It  was  a  sorrowing 
To  make  a  good  man's  death  seem  such  a  thing 

As  makes  imperial  purple  of  his  shroud. 

Some  creeds  there  be  like  runes  we  cannot  spell, 
And  some  like  stars  that  flicker  in  their  flame ; 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  289 

But  some  so  clear  the  sun  scarce  shines  so  well ; 

For  when  with  Moses'  touch  a  dead  man's  name 
Finds  tears  within  strange  rocks  as  this  name  can, 
We  know  right  well  that  God  was  with  the  man. 

At  both  the  morning  and  evening  services  in 
Westminster  Abbey  reference  was  made  to  Presi 
dent  Garfield's  death.  At  the  afternoon  service 
Canon  Duckworth  said  the  American  people  were 
richer  in  all  that  could  dignify  national  life  by 
President  Garfield's  death.  Had  the  shattered 
frame  revived,  it  would  be  hard  to  believe  that  he 
could  have  impressed  his  greatness  more  effec 
tually.  At  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Roberts  described  the  assassination  as  a  crime 
against  the  whole  English  humanity.  At  all  the 
principal  churches  of  all  denominations  Garfield's 
death  formed  the  subject  of  sympathetic  allusion. 

In  Paris,  Pere  Hyacinthe  held  a  memorial  ser 
vice,  and  at  Berlin,  one  of  the  Emperor's  chaplains 
spoke  at  length  upon  the  martyred  President. 

The  London  Times,  summing  up  the  events  of 
the  week,  said :  "  Such  a  spectacle  has  never 
before  been  presented  as  the  mourning  with  which 
the  whole  civilized  world  is  honoring  the  late 
President  Garfield.  Emperors  and  kings,  Senates 
and  ministers,  are,  in  spirit,  his  pall-bearers,  but 
their  peoples,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  claim 
to  be  equally  visible  and  audible  as  sorrowing 
assistants." 


290  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XL. 

National  Day  of  Mourning. — Draping  of  Public  Buildings  and  Private 
Residences. — Touching  Incident. — Tributes  to  Garfield. — Senator 
Hoar's  Address. — Whittier's  Letter. — Senator  (Dawes'  Remarks. 

MONDAY,  September  26th,  the  day  when  the 
funeral  rites  were  celebrated  at  Cleveland,  was  ap 
pointed  by  President  Arthur  as  a  national  day  of 
mourning.  The  public  buildings  throughout  the 
country  and  many  private  residences  were  draped 
with  mourning,  while  beautiful  and  appropriate 
emblems  of  the  nation's  sorrow  were  seen  in  almost 
every  window.  A  touching  incident  is  told  of  a 
poor  colored  washerwoman  at  Long  Branch  who 
tore  up  her  one  Sunday  gown,  a  cheap  black  ging 
ham,  and  hung  it  about  her  door.  When  remon 
strated  with,  she  said,  quietly, — 

"He  was  my  President,  too."  It  would  take 
volumes  to  give  any  adequate  collection  of  the 
many  beautiful  tributes  to  Garfield  delivered  in 
the  pulpit,  from  the  forum,  and  through  the  public 
press,  but  from  them  we  select  a  few. 

At  Mechanic's  Hall  in  Worcester,  Senator 
George  F.  Hoar  spoke  as  follows  :  "  I  suppose  at 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  291 

this  single  hour  there  is  deeper  grief  over  the  civ 
ilized  world  than  at  any  other  single  hour  in  its 
history.  Heroes,  and  statesmen,  and  monarchs, 
and  orators,  and  warriors,  and  great  benefactors  of 
the  race,  have  died  and  been  buried.  There  have 
been  men  like  William  the  Silent  and  his  kinsmen 
of  England,  and  men  like  Lincoln,  whose  death 
generations  unborn  will  lament  with  a  sense  as  of 
personal  bereavement.  But  in  the  past  the  knowl 
edge  of  great  events  and  great  characters  made  its 
way  slowly  to  the  minds  of  men.  The  press  and 
the  telegraph  have  this  summer  assembled  all 
Christendom  morning  and  evening  at  the  door  of 
one  sick-chamber.  The  gentle  and  wise  Lincoln 
had  to  overcome  the  hatred  and  bitterness  of  a 
great  civil  war.  It  was  the  fortune  of  President 
Garfield,  as  it  was  never  the  fortune  of  any  other 
man,  that  his  whole  life  has  been  unrolled  as  a 
scroll  to  be  read  of  all  men.  The  recent  election 
had  made  us  familiar  with  that  story  of  the  child 
hood  in  the  log  cabin,  of  the  boyhood  on  the  canal 
boat,  of  the  precious  school  time,  of  the  college 
days  at  the  feet  of  our  saintly  Hopkins,  of  the 
school-teacher,  of  the  marriage  to  the  bright  and 
beautiful  schoolmate,  of  the  Christian  preacher, 
of  the  soldier  saving  the  army  at  Chickamauga,  of 
the  statesman  leading  in  great  debates  in  Congress, 
and  of  the  orator  persuading  the  conscience  and 
judgment  of  Ohio,  and,  through  her,  saving  the 


292  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

nation's  honor  and  credit  in  the  great  strife  for 
public  honesty,  of  the  judge  determining  the  great 
issue  of  the  title  to  the  presidency,  of  the  loved 
and  trusted  popular  leader,  to  whom  was  offered 
the  choice  of  three  great  offices,  Representative, 
Senator,  and  President  at  once.  We  know  it  all  by 
heart,  as  we  know  the  achievements  of  the  brief 
and  brilliant  administration  of  the  presidential  of 
fice  and  the  heroic  patience  and  cheer  of  that  long 
dying  struggle,  when  every  sigh  of  agony  was  ut 
tered  in  a  telephone  at  which  all  mankind  were 
listening.  No  wonder  the  heart  burst  at  last. 
While  it  was  throbbing  and  pulsing  with  fever 
and  pain,  it  furnished  the  courage  which  held  up 
for  seventy-nine  days  the  sinking  hopes  of  a  world. 
This  man  touched  the  common  life  of  humanity, 
touched  its  lowliness,  touched  its  greatness,  at  so 
many  points.  His  roots  were  in  New  England 
puritanism,  were  in  the  yeomanry  of  Worcester 
and  Middlesex.  He  grew  up  to  manhood  in 
Ohio.  The  South  had  learned  to  know  him.  Her 
soldiers  had  met  him  in  battle.  When  he  died 
she  was  making  ready  to  clasp  the  hand  he  was 
holding  out  to  her  returning  loyalty.  The  child 
in  the  log  cabin  knows  all  about  the  childhood  so 
like  his  own.  Scholarship  mourns  the  scholar 
who  was  struck  down  when  he  was  hastening  to 

o 

lay  his  untarnished  laurel  at  the  feet  of  his  col 
lege.  Every  mother's  heart  in  America  stirred 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  293 

within  her  when  the  first  act  of  the  new  President 
was  to  pay  homage  to  his  own  mother.  The  sol 
diers  and  sailors  of  England,  the  veterans  of  Tra 
falgar  and  Waterloo,  join  his  own  comrades  in 
mourning  for  a  hero  whom  they  deemed  worthy  to 
be  ranked  with  the  heroes  who  held  out  the  live 
long  day  with  Wellington,  or  who  obeyed  Nelson's 
immortal  signal.  The  laborer  misses  a  brother 
who  has  known  all  the  bitterness  of  poverty  and 
the  sweetness  of  bread  earned  by  the  sweat  of  his 
brow.  The  Queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
Empress  of  India,  and  sovereign  of  Cyprus  and 
Malta  and  Gibraltar  and  Canada  and  Jamaica,  knew 
her  peer  when  she  laid  her  wreath,  last  Friday,  on 
the  coffin  of  a  king.  The  last  we  heard  of  him  in 
health  he  was  playing  like  a  boy  with  his  boy. 
As  our  friend  said  in  the  pulpit  yesterday,  the 
saints  of  mankind,  when  they  saw  him,  knew  the 
birthmark  of  their  race,  and  bowed  their  heads. 
The  American  people  have  anointed  him  as  the 
representative  of  their  sovereignty.  Washington 
and  Lincoln  came  forward  to  greet  him  and  wel 
come  him  to  a  seat  beside  their  own.  I  say  there 
is  deeper  grief  at  this  hour  over  the  civilized  world 
than  at  any  other  single  hour  in  history.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  death  of  President  Garfield  is  the 
greatest  single  calamity  this  country  ever  suffered. 
I  have  no  doubt  there  were  hundreds  and  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  who  would  gladly  have  bought 


294  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

his  life  with  their  own,  but  we  shall  dishonor  our 
dead  here  if,  even  while  his  grave  is  open,  we  al 
low  ourselves  to  utter  a  cry  of  despair.  It  is  true 
of  nations,  even  more  than  of  man,  that  "Whom 
the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourge th  every 
son  whom  he  receiveth."  Our  republic  was  plant 
ed  in  sorrow.  One-half  of  the  pilgrims  died  at 
Plymouth  the  first  winter,  and  yet  not  one  of  the 
original  colony  went  back  to  England.  Is  there 
any  man  now  who  would  they  had  not  died,  or 
wishes  they  had  found  summer  and  plenty  and 
ease  on  the  coast  of  Massachusetts  ?  Could  we 
celebrate  Yorktown  with  the  same  lofty  triumph 
without  the  memories  of  Valley  Forge  and  the  death 
of  Hale  and  Warren  ?  I  think  even  the  widow  who 
goes  mourning  all  her  days  will  hardly  wish  now  that 
our  regiments  had  come  home  from  the  war  with 
full  ranks.  God  has  taken  from  us  our  beloved, 
but  think  what  has  been  brought  into  this  precious 
life.  Fifty  millions  of  people,  of  many  races,  of 
many  climes,  the  workman,  the  farmer,  the  slave 
just  made  free,  met  together  to  choose  the  man 
whom  they  could  call  to  the  presidency  among 
mankind.  God  took  him  in  his  first  hour  of 
triumph  and  stretched  him  for  seventy-nine  days 
upon  a  rack.  He  turned  in  upon  that  sick-cham 
ber  a  Drummond  light  that  all  mankind  might  look 
in  upon  that  cruel  assay,  and  see  what  manner  of 
men  and  what  manner  of  women  Freedom  calls  to 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  295 

her  high  places.  He  revealed  to  them  courage, 
constancy,  cheerfulness,  woman's  love,  faith  in 
God,  submission  to  his  will.  Into  what  years  of 
Europe,  into  what  cycles  of  Cathay  were  ever 
crowded  so  much  of  hope  and  cheer  for  humanity 
as  into  the  tragedy  of  Elberon?  Your  prayers 
were  not  answered ;  the  bitter  cup  has  not  passed 
from  you,  but,  so  long  as  human  hearts  endure, 
humanity  will  be  strengthened  and  comforted,  be 
cause  you  have  drunk  it. 

The  following  letter,  from  John  G.  Whittier, 
was  read  at  the  funeral  services  of  President  Gar- 
field,  held  in  Amesbury  :  — 

DANVERS,  MASS.,  QTH  Mo.,  24,  1881. 
W.  H.  B.  CURRIER. 

My  Dear  Friend,  —  I  regret  that  it  is  not  in  my  power  to 
join  the  citizens  of  Amesbury  and  Salisbury  in  the  memorial 
services  on  the  occasion  of  the  deatli  of  our  lamented  Presi 
dent.  But  in  heart  and  sympathy  I  am  with  you.  I  share 
the  great  sorrow  which  overshadows  th£  land;  I  fully 
appreciate  the  irretrievable  loss.  But  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  occasion  is  one  for  thankfulness  as  well  as  grief. 
Through  all  the  stages  of  the  solemn  tragedy  which  has 
just  closed  with  the  death  of  our  noblest  and  best,  I  have 
felt  that  the  Divine  Providence  was  overruling  the  mighty 
affliction  —  that  the  patient  sufferer  at  Washington  was 
drawing  with  cords  of  sympathy  all  sections  and  parties 
nearer  to  each  other.  And  now,  when  South  and  North, 
Democrat  and  Republican,  Radical  and  Conservative,  lift 
their  voices  in  or.e  unbroken  accord  of  lamentation ;  when  I 
see  how,  in  spite  of  the  greed  of  gain,  the  lust  of  office,  the 


296  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

strifes  and  meanness  of  party  politics,  the  great  heart  of  the 
nation  proves  sound  and  loyal,  I  feel  a  new  hope  for  the 
republic.  I  have  a  firmer  faith  in  its  stability.  It  is  said 
that  no  man  liveth  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself;  and  the 
pure  and  noble  life  of  Garfield,  and  his  slow,  long  martyrdom 
so  bravely  borne  in  the  view  of  all,  are,  I  believe,  bearing 
for  us,  as  a  people,  "  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness." 
We  are  stronger,  wiser,  better  for  them. 

With  him  it  is  well.  His  mission  fulfilled,  he  goes  to  his 
grave  by  the  lakeside,  honored  and  lamented  as  man  never 
was  before.  The  whole  world  mourns  him.  There  is  no 
speech  nor  language  where  the  voice  of  his  praise  is  not 
heard.  About  his  grave  gathers,  with  heads  uncovered,  the 
vast  brotherhood  of  man. 

And  with  us  it  is  well  also.  We  are  nearer  a  united 
people  than  ever  before.  We  are  at  peace  with  all ;  our 
future  is  full  of  promise ;  our  industrial  and  financial  con 
dition  is  hopeful.  God  grant  that,  while  our  material 
interests  prosper,  the  moral  and  spiritual  influence  of  this 
occasion  may  be  permanently  felt ;  that  the  solemn  sacra 
ment  of  sorrow  whereof  we  have  been  partakers  may  be 
blest  to  the  promotion  of  the  "  righteousness  which  exalts  a 
nation."  Thy  friend,  JOHN  G.  WHITTIER. 


Said  Senator  Dawes  :  — 

"Garfield  was  indeed  a  great  man.  This  will  be 
the  judgment  of  those  who  knew  him  personally 
and  of  history.  This  tragedy  prevents  the  cor- 
roboration  of  that  judgment  by  results ;  for  he 
had  but  just  entered  upon  the  work  for  which  his 
preparation  and  development  had  fitted  him  and 
has  finished  nothing  but  a  life  of  great  promise 
and  expectation.  His  growth  has  been  a  wonder- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  297 

ful  study  to  those  who  were  by  his  side  during  its 
progress.  It  was  constant  to  the  last  moment. 
The  last  year  had  turned  it  into  an  altogether  new 
and  untried  channel.  It  had  been  begun  and 
carried  on  until  that  time  in  quite  a  different  direc 
tion.  He  had  never  had  executive  experience, 
and  a  modesty  and  distrust,  rare  in  minds  con 
scious  of  great  power,  led  him  to  hesitate  and 
shrink  from  what  was  before  him.  His  first  re 
mark  to  a  long-tried  friend  on  taking  his  hand 
after  the  Chicago  convention  was  this :  'I  fear  I 
am  no  man  for  this  place  ;  I  have  felt  that  I  could 
reasonably  count  on  six  years  more  of  labor  and 
study  and  growth  in  the  new  and  larger  opportu 
nity  already  secured  to  me  in  my  accustomed  field, 
but  this  is  an  untried  sphere  to  me,  and  I  dread  the 
experiment.'  The  short  time  he  has  been  permit 
ted,  however,  to  labor  in  this  new  field  has  yet 
been  long  enough  to  bring  out  great  qualities  and 
high  purposes  that  the  nation  can  ill  spare.  He 
was  conscious  of  great  powers  carefully  trained, 
but  he  lacked  confidence  to  take  hold  of  new 
things.  His  mind  did  not  work  quickly,  though 
it  did  surely.  Always  feeling  the  ground  under 
every  step  he  took,  he  never  ventured  his  foot 
where  he  could  not,  by  some  process  of  reasoning, 
however  slow,  satisfy  himself  that  he  knew  what 
was  under  him.  Hence  the  man  who  was  a  great 
leader  in  battle,  and  of  unflinching  personal 


298  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

courage,  and  better  fitted  than  any  contemporary 
to  demonstrate  and  defend  a  political  principle, 
had  not  yet  come  to  be  a  safe  political  leader  in  a 
sudden  emergency,  where  there  is  no  time  for 
logic  or  processes  of  reasoning,  but  action  must 
follow  instinct  and  first  impression.  At  such 
times  he  distrusted  himself  and  left  to  others, 
with  not  a  tithe  of  his  real  power,  the  guidance 
of  political  movements.  As  free  from  political  as 
from  personal  guile,  he  was  too  confiding  and 
open-hearted  to  be  safe  in  the  hands  of  men  less 
scrupulous  and  less  selfish. 

"  Those  who  saw  him  enter  public  life,  and  were 
with  him  to  the  end,  have  in  mind  a  wonderful 
growth,  and  have  in  admiration,  also,  a  wonderful 
character,  personal,  mental  and  moral,  ever  charm 
ing,  sure  to  be  instructive  and  always  exemplary. 
In  private  intercourse  with  those  he  loved  he 
was  as  simple  and  trusting  as  a  child,  as  tender 
and  affectionate  as  a  woman,  and  as  true  and 
valiant  as  a  knight.  One  of  the  most  touch- 

O 

ing  scenes,  illustrative  of  what  manner  of  man 
he  was,  will  never  be  forgotten.  The  great 
cares  of  state  had  well  -  nigh  worn  him  out ; 
the  wife  of  his  love  lay  lingering  between  life 
and  death,  and  he  had  been  going  from  official 
labor  and  responsibility  to  her  bedside  night  after 
night,  and,  for  the  last  two,  had  scarcely  closed 
his  eyes.  The  report  had  gone  out  that  Mrs. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  299 

Garfield  was  dying  ;  a  near  friend  called  to  inquire. 
Coming  out  of  the  sick-room,  and  grasping  his 
hand,  the  President  begged  him  to  sit  down,  and 
there  this  greatest  of  all  public  men  unbosomed 
himself  like  a  broken-hearted  woman.  Dwelling 
with  surprising  tenderness  upon  the  love  and 
beauty  of  his  married  life,  and  the  noble  character 
of  her  who  had  made  it  what  it  was,  he  exclaimed, 
with  great  emotion,  fl  have  had  in  this  trial 
glimpses  of  a  better  and  higher  life  beyond,  which 
have  made  this  life  I  am  leading  here  seem  utterly 
barren  and  worthless.  Whatever  may  come  of 
this  peril,  I  fear  that  I  shall  never  again  have 
ambition  or  heart  to  go  through  with  that  to 
which  I  have  been  called.'  To  human  view  he 
has  not  been  permitted  to  finish  the  work  for 
which  he  was  fitted  and  to  which  he  aspired,  but  he 
has  left  valuable  material  for  the  study  and  in 
struction  of  public  men,  covering  a  greater  range 
of  topics,  a  more  thorough  investigation,  and 
sounder  conclusions  than  have  been  left  by  any 
one  so  constantly  active  in  the  daily  and  current 
demands  of  public  life.  Let  us  thank  God  for 
such  a  life,  of  such  infinite  value  to  the  republic. 
Its  example,  its  teachings,  its  ambitions,  its  lofty 
aspirations  and  high  resolves,  and  its  demonstra 
tions  of  what  man  can  make  of  himself,  have  no 
parallel  in  history,  and  will  have  no  measure  in 
their  beneficent  effect  upon  those  who  shall  here- 


300  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

after  honestly  study  them.  He  dies  loved,  ad 
mired  and  mourned  before  all  others,  but  not  yet 
fully  appreciated.  His  loss  is  irreparable,  his  les 
son  invaluable.4' 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  301 


CHAPTER   XLI. 

Subscription  Fund  for  the  President's  Family.  — Ready  Generosity  of 
the  People.  —  Touching  Incident.  — Total  Amount  of  the  Fund.  — 
How  the  Money  was  Invested.  —  Project  for  Memorial  Hospital  in 
Washington*  —  Cyrus  W.  Field's  Gift  of  Memorial  Window  to 
Williams  College.  —  Garfield's  Affection  for  his  Alma  Mater.  — 
Reception  given  Mark  Hopkins  and  the  Williams  Graduates,  — 
Garfield's  Address  to  his  Classmates. 

SOON  after  the  President's  assassination,  the  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  headed  by  Cyrus 
W.  Field  and  other  leading  capitalists,  started  a 
subscription  for  Mrs.  Garfield  and  her  children. 
To  this  fund  all  classes  of  the  people  contributed 
with  a  readiness  and  generosity  that  gave  touching 
evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  their  love  and  sym 
pathy.  Little  children  sent  their  hoarded  pennies, 
many  a  poor  working  woman  denied  herself  some 
needed  comfort  that  she  might  add  her  mite,  and 
one  old  man,  in  tattered  clothes,  came  into  the 
office  of  Drexel  &  Co.,  where  subscriptions  were 
received,  and  putting  a  bottle  of  ink  on  the  table, 
said,  — 

"  It's  all  I  have,  but  I  must  do  something." 

As  soon  as  the  story  was  told,  the  ink  was  taken 


LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SEKVICES   OF 

and  sold  again  and  again  that  day,  until  it  brought 
in  fifty  dollars. 

When  Mrs.  Garfield  was  first  apprised  of  this 
subscription  fund,  she'  said,  — 

"  I  wish  it  were  possible  for  me  to  go  around 
and  see  all  these  dear  people  ! " 

After  the  President's  death  it  was  stated  that 
the  fund  would  close  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  Octo 
ber.  The  total  amount  received  was  $360,345.74, 
and  this  was  at  once  given  over  to  the  United 
States  Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  for  in 
vestment.  The  Company  paid  the  amount  of 
$348,968.75  for  the  purchase  of  $300,000  four  per 
cent,  registered  bonds,  and  the  balance  of  cash, 
$11,376.99,  was  placed  in  charge  of  this  same 
Trust  Company. 

Among  the  numerous  tributes  to  the  memory  of 
Garfield  is  a  project  for  a  national  memorial  hos 
pital  in  Washington  on  the  spot  where  the 
President  was  assassinated,  and  an  organization 
has  been  formed  to  cany  it  into  effect.  The 
object  has  the  sympathy  and  endorsement  of  Presi 
dent  Arthur,  General  Sherman,  members  of  the 
Cabinet,  and  other  distinguished  and  influential 
persons.  The  land  on  which  the  depot  stands 
belongs  to  Government,  it  is  said,  and  is  held 
on  sufferance  by  the  railroad  company. 

Cyrus  W.  Field  is  to  place  a  memorial  window 
in  the  chapel  of  Williams  College. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  303 

"Nothing,"  says  one  writer,  "has  more  illus 
trated  the  strong  arid  tender  affection  which 
Garfield  retained  for  the  master  at  whose  feet  he 
learned  the  law  of  love,  than  the  natural  way  in 
which  he  turned  to  Dr.  Hopkins  after  his  career 
had  reached  its  flower.  The  first  reception  in  the 
White  House  was  givren  to  Mark  Hopkins  and  the 
Williams  graduates.  It  was  the  President's  own 
planning.  The  alumni  in  Washington,  resident 
and  visitors,  including  a  large  number  of  the  class 
of  '56,  were  notified  of  the  President's  wishes, 
and  went  to  the  White  House  marshalled  by  the 
venerable  doctor.  They  were  drawn  up  in  the 
form  of  a  horseshoe,  and  Dr.  Hopkins  addressed 
the  Chief  Magistrate.  The  speaker  was  pro 
foundly  moved,  and  exhorted  his  pupil  to  maintain 
the  high  ideals  which  had  marked  his  past. 
President  Garfield,  with  wet  eyes,  replied  in  one 
of  those  moving  and  inspired  speeches  which  he 
sometimes  uttered.  He  voiced  the  deepest  love 
and  reverence  for  his  old  teacher,  and  ascribed  the 
good  impulse  of  his  career  to  lessons  learned 
among  the  hills  of  Berkshire.  The  forty  or  more 
alumni  present  were  affected  to  tears." 

Garfield  was  greatly  attached  to  his  Alma  Ma 
ter  ;  on  the  night  previous  to  his  inauguration  he 
met  his  college  classmates,  and,  in  an  address  to 
them,  spoke  as  folio  AYS  : 


304  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"CLASSMATES, — To  me  there  is  something  ex 
ceedingly  pathetic  in  this  reunion.  In  every  eye 
before  me  I  see  the  light  of  friendship  and  love, 
and  I  am  sure  it  is  reflected  back  to  each  one  of 
you  from  my  inmost  heart.  For  twenty-two  years, 
with  the  exception  of  the  last  few  days,  I  have 
been  in  the  public  service.  To-night  I  am  a  pri 
vate  citizen.  To-morrow  I  shall  be  called  to  as 
sume  new  responsibilities,  and  on  the  day  after  the 
broadside  of  the  world's  wrath  will  strike.  It  will 
strike  hard.  I  know  it  and  you  will  know  it. 
Whatever  may  happen  to  me  in  the  future,  I  shall 
feel  that  I  can  always  fall  back  upon  the  shoulders 
and  hearts  of  the  class  of '56  for  their  approval  of 
that  which  is  right  and  for  their  charitable  judg 
ment  wherein  I  may  come  short  in  the  discharge 
of  my  public  duties.  You  may  write  down  in 
your  books  now  the  largest  percentage  of  blunders 
which  you  think  I  will  be  likely  to  make,  and  you 
will  be  sure  to  find  in  the  end  that  I  have  made 
more  than  you  have  calculated  —  many  more. 

"This  honor  comes  to  me  unsought.  I  have 
never  had  the  presidential  fever,  not  even  for  a 
clay;  nor  have  I  it  to-night.  I  have  no  feeling 
of  elation  in  view  of  the  position  I  am  called  upon 
to  fill.  I  would  thank  God  were  I  to-day  a  free 
lance  in  the  House  or  the  Senate  ;  but  it  is  not  to 
be,  and  I  will  go  forward  to  meet  the  responsibili 
ties  and  discharge  the  duties  that  are  before  me 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  305 

with  all  the  firmness  and  ability  I  can  command. 
I  hope  you  will  be  able  conscientiously  to  approve 
my  conduct,  and  when  I  return  to  private  life  I 
wish  you  to  give  me  another  class-meeting." 


306  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

Removal  of  the  President's  Remains.  —  Monument  Fund  Committee. 
—  Garfield  Memorial  in  Boston.  —  Extracts  from  Address  by  Hon. 
N.  P.  Banks. 

ON  the  22d  of  October,  Garfield's  remains  were 
removed  from  the  public  vault  in  Lake  view  Cem 
etery  to  a  private  vault  on  the  grounds,  there  to 
remain  until  the  completion  of  the  crypt,  where 
they  will  permanently  repose. 

A  Garfield  Monument  Fund  Committee  was 
organized  at  Cleveland  immediately  after  the  fune 
ral,  and  contributions  have  been  received  by  it 
from  all  sections  of  the  country. 

Upon  Thursday,  the  20th  day  of  October,  Me 
morial  services  were  held  in  Boston  at  Tremont 
Temple.  From  the  address  delivered  by  Hon.  N. 
P.  Banks  we  give  the  following  extracts  :  — 

"The  history  of  the  Plymouth  colony  of  1620, 
which  preceded  the  embarkation  of  the  Massachu 
setts  colony,  was  blistered  with  the  results  of  a 
bitter  and  apparently  relentless  destiny,  against 
which  it  would  have  been  scarcely  possible  for 
any  people  but  the  Massachusetts  Puritans  and 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  307 

Pilgrims  to  have  secured  a  triumph  like  that 
which  the  Deity  they  worshipped  vouchsafed  to 
them. 

"  Its  founders  were  fugitives  from  England  and 
exiles  from  Holland.  They  gladly  accepted  the 
chances  of  suffering  and  death  in  the  New  World, 
to  gain  liberty  of  conscience  and  freedom  to  wor 
ship  God.  For  the  first. ten  years  of  its  existence 
population  increased  slowly,  and  numbered  but 
three  hundred  souls  in  1630. 

"The  Massachusetts  colony,  with  which  Ply 
mouth  was  united,  left  the  Old  World  under 
happier  auspices.  It  started  with  concessions  and 
congratulations  from  the  Crown.  The  best  men 
in  England  were  ambitious  to  share  its  fortunes. 
Winthrop,  Saltonstall  and  Sir  Harry  Vane  —  'the 
sad  and  starry  Vane' — were  among  its  leaders; 
and  such  men  as  John  Hampden,  Pym,  Oliver 
Cromwell,  and  many  others  of  that  heroic  type, 
were  restrained  from  emigration  at  the  moment 
of  embarkation  by  the  order  of  the  king.  Four 
thousand  families  —  twenty  thousand  souls  — 
people  of  culture,  capacity  and  character,  no  de 
cayed  courtiers  or  adventurers,  but  merchants, 
seamen,  husbandmen  and  others  devoted  to  the 
highest  interests  of  man,  had  landed  in  Boston  in 
ten  years  from  the  foundation  of  the  city. 

"Among  them  came,  in  1630,  Edward  Garfield, 
the  paternal  ancestor  of  the  late  President  of  the 


308  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

United  States.  He  was  a  man  of  gentle  blood,  of 
military  instincts  and  training,  possessing  some 
property,  and  a  thoughtful  and  vigorous  habit  of 
mind  and  body.  The  earliest  record  of  his  name 
in  the  annals  of  the  colony  indicated  an  origin 
from  some  one  of  the  great  German  families  of 
Europe,  and  his  alliance  by  marriage  with  a  lady 
of  that  blood  and  birth  cqnfirmed  the  original  im 
pression  of  the  people  with  whom  he  identified 
his  fortunes.  His  emigration  suggested  a  purpose 
consistent  with  his  capacity  and  character,  and 
with  the  higher  aspirations  of  the  colony.  He 
coveted  possession  of  land,  and  for  that  reason 
probably,  among  others,  settled  in  Watertown, 
where  territory  was  abundant,  and  boundary  lines 
yet  delicate  and  dim,  especially  toward  the  west, 
where  they  were  mainly  defined  by  the  receding 
and  vanishing  forms  of  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
of  the  country.  In  the  realm  they  had  abandoned 
it  was  a  maxim  among  men  that  home  was  where 
the  heart  was.  But  in  the  New  World  the  colon 
ists  had  discovered  that  both  home  and  heart  were 
where  there  were  liberty  and  land. 

"He  chose  a  residence  near  Charles  River,  a 
stream  unsurpassed  in  beauty  by  any  water  that 
flows,  since  honored  by  the  residence  and  immor 
talized  by  the  verse  of  Longfellow,  and  the  original 
and  marvellous  industries  that  enrich  its  peaceful 
and  prosperous  people. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  309 

"Edward  Garfield,  the  founder  of  this  new 
American  family,  did  not  long  linger  near  the 
boundaries  of  Boston.  His  first  share  in  the 
distribution  of  land  to  the  freemen,  by  the  town, 
was  a  small  lot  or  homestall  of  six  acres,  on  the 
line  of  territory  afterwards  incorporated  as  the 
town  of  Waltham.  Another  general  grant  of  land 
by  the  town,  in  1636,  '  to  the  freemen  and  all  the 
townsmen  then  inhabiting,'  one  hundred  and 
twenty  in  number,  called  the  Great  Dividends, 
gave  to  Garfield  a  tract  of  thirty  acres,  the  whole 
of  which  was  within  the  territory  set  off  to  Wal 
tham.  In  1650  the  land  allotted  to  Mr.  Phillips, 
the  first  minister  of  Watertown  (about  forty  acres, 
in  the  same  locality),  was  sold  by  his  heirs  to 
Garfield  and  his  sons.  A  portion  of  this  estate 
was  purchased  from  the  heirs  of  Garfield  by 
Governor  Gore,  who  constructed  upon  it,  from 
imported  plans  and  materials,  on  his  return  from 
England,  a  country  seat,  still  admired  as  one  of 
the  most  elegant  and  stately  residences  in  America. 
The  first  distinctive  title  ever  given  to  the  terri 
tory  now  embraced  within  the  limits  of  Waltham 
was  that  of  'The  Precinct  of  Captain  Garfield's 
Company.'  It  is  said  that,  after  the  incorporation 
of  that  town,  this  name  rarely  appears  on  the 
records  of  Watertown. 

"While  citizens  of  Watertown,  Garfield  and  his 
descendants  were  assigned  to  responsible  military 


310  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

commands  by  the  governors  of  the  colony,  and 
frequently  chosen  for  the  board  of  selectmen  and 
other  town  offices.  Captain  Benjamin  Garfield 
held  a  captain's  commission  from  the  governor, 
was  nine  times  elected  representative  of  the  town, 
and  appointed  to  many  other  offices.  Others  were 
honored  in  a  similar  manner  in  Watertown,  in 
Waltham,  and  wherever  they  planted  themselves. 

"  They  did  not  hive  in  the  settled  and  safe  centres 
of  the  colony,  but  struck  out  boldly  for  the  fron 
tier,  where  danger  was  to  be  encountered  and 
duty  performed.  They  adhered  zealously  to  the 
principles  of  the  colony,  and  the  controversies 
that  arose  from  considerations  of  that  nature,  at 
the  very  outset  of  its  history,  settled  upon  an 
unchangeable  basis  the  character  of  its  govern 
ment. 

"  An  important  and  instructive  illustration  of  this 
free  spirit  of  the  people  occurred  in  the  second 
year  of  its  settlement.  Without  previous  consul 
tation  of  the  several  towns,  the  governor  and 
assistants  levied,  in  1632,  an  assessment  of  eight 
pounds  sterling  upon  them  for  construction  of 
military  defences  in  what  is  now  Cambridge. 
This  order  was  declared  to  be  subversive  of  their 
rights,  and  the  people  of  Watertown,  the  most 
populous  and  influential  inland  town,  met  in 
church,  with  their  pastor  and  elders,  according  to 
their  custom,  and  after  much  debate  deliberately 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  311 

refused  to  pay  the  money,  on  the  ground,  they 
said,  'that  it  was  not  safe  to  pay  monies  after  that 
sort,  for  fear  of  bringing  themselves  and  their  pos 
terity  into  bondage.' 

"  When  summoned  before  the  governor  they  were 
obliged  to  retract  the  declaration  and  submit ;  but 
they  set  on  foot  such  an  agitation  through  the 
colony  as  to  secure,  within  three  months  of  their 
original  debate,  an  order  for  the  appointment  of 
two  persons  from  each  town  to  advise  with  the 
governor  and  assistants  as  to  the  best  method  of 
raising  public  moneys.  This  order  ripened,  in 
1634,  into  the  creation  of  a  representative  body 
of  deputies  elected  by  the  people,  having  full 
power  to  act  for  all  freemen,  except  in  elections. 
This  was  the  origin  of  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  in  Massachusetts.  After  ten  years'  contest 
the  body  of  assistants  to  the  governor  was  sepa 
rated  from  the  body  of  deputies,  and,  sitting  as  a 
Senate,  left  to  the  deputies  chosen  by  the  towns 
an  absolute  negative  upon  the  legislation  of  the 
colony.  Thus  was  established,  substantially  as  it 
now  exists,  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts. 

"  As  the  people  began  to  be  represented  in  the 
government  of  the  colony,  so  the  direction  of  civil 
affairs  in  the  towns  came  to  be  entrusted  to  a 
municipal  body  of  freemen,  peculiar  to  New  Eng 
land,  chosen  for  that  purpose,  and  known  as  the 
board  of  selectmen.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  know 


312  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

that,  during  the  violent  contest  for  this  right  of 
representation  in  State  and  local  governments, 
Edward  Garfield,  the  earliest  American  ancestor 
of  the  martyr  President  whose  loss  we  mourn,  as 
a  selectman  of  Watertown,  in  the  very  crisis  of 
that  contest,  did  a  freeman's  duty  with  a  freeman's 
will,  in  securing  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts  the 
right  of  representation  they  now  enjoy. 

"The  Massachusetts  family  of  Garfields,  in  the 
male  line  at  least,  were  churchmen,  freemen,  fight 
ing  men,  thoughtful  and  thrifty  men,  and  working 
men.  They  were  enterprising,  active,  and  brave, 
fond  of  adventure,  distinguished  for  endurance 
and  strength,  athletic  feats,  sallies  of  wit,  cheerful 
dispositions,  and,  like  their  eminent  successor  so 
recently  passed  away,  noted  always  for  a  manly 
spirit  and  a  commanding  person  and  presence. 
It  was  a  prolific  and  long-lived  race.  Marriages 
were  at  a  premium,  and  families  were  large  and 
numerous.  Among  the  people  of  the  Massachu 
setts  colony  who  made  their  way  quickly  to  the 
frontier  when  new  towns  were  to  be  planted, 
the  Garfields  were  well  represented.  The  founda 
tion  of  a  new  municipality  was  then  a  solemn 
affair,  usually  preceded  by  ra  day  of  humiliation, 
and  a  sermon  by  Mr.  Cotton.'  When  the  terri 
tory  of  Massachusetts  was  overstocked,  they 
passed  to  other  States  in  New  England,  and 
ultimately  to  the  great  West.  Wherever  they 


JAMES    Ac  GARFIELD.  313 

were  they  asserted  and  defended  the  principles 
they  inherited  from  the  founders  of  Massachu 
setts. 

"Abram  Garfield,  of  the  fifth  generation,  a  min 
ute-man  from  Lincoln,  engaged  in  the  fight  with 
the  British  at  Concord,  and  was  one  of  the  signers 
of  a  certificate,  with  some  of  the  principal  citizens 
of  that  town,  declaring  that  the  British  began  that 
fight.  We  should  not  feel  so  much  solicitude 
about  that  matter  now. 

"Abram  Garfield,  a  nephew  of  the  soldier  at 
Concord,  whose  name  he  bore,  and  who  repre 
sented  the  seventh  generation  of  the  family,  settled 
later  in  Otsego  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  received 
the  first  fruits  of  toil  as  a  laborer  on  the  Erie 
Canal.  The  construction  of  canals  by  the  Gov 
ernment  of  Ohio  drew  him,  with  other  relatives, 
to  that  State,  where  his  previous  experience  gained 
for  him  a  contract  on  the  Ohio  Canal.  The  young 
men  and  women  who  left  the  earlier  settlements 
for  the  frontier  States  sometimes  consecrated  the 
friendships  of  their  youth  by  a  contract  of  mar 
riage  when  they  met  again  in  the  great  West. 
Abram  Garfield  in  this  way  met  and  married  (Feb. 
3,  1821)  Eliza  Ballou,  a  New  Hampshire  maiden, 
whom  he  had  known  in  earlier  years.  It  was  a 
long  wait,  but  a  solid  union.  They  were  nearly 
twenty  years  of  age  when  married.  A  log  cabin, 
with  one  room,  was  their  home.  His  vocation 


314  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

was  that  of  an  excavator  of  canals  in  the  depths 
of  the  primeval  forests  of  Ohio.  There  was  not 
much  of  hope  or  joy  in  the  life  before  them ;  but 
still  it  was  all  there  was  for  them  of  hope  or  joy. 
They  could  not  expect  the  crown  of  life  until  they 
had  paid  its  forfeit.  They  adhered  to  the  relig 
ious  customs  of  childhood.  Their  labor  prospered. 
Amid  their  suffering  and  toil  in  the  construction 
of  the  arteries  of  civilization  and  the  foundation 
of  States  and  empires  that  will  hereafter  rule  the 
world,  four  children  came  to  bless  them.  The 
last  of  the  four  was  James  Abram  Garfield  (Nov. 
19,  1831),  destined,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
to  be  and  to  die  President  of  the  Republic. 

"  Garfield  had  pre-eminent  skill  in  directing  and 
applying  the  labor  and  attainments  of  others  to  the 
success  of  his  own  work.  This  is  a  somewhat  rare, 
but  a  most  invaluable  capacity.  No  one  man  can 
do  everything.  In  labor,  as  in  war,  to  divide  is  to 
conquer.  There  have  been  men  who  knew  every 
thing,  and  could  do  everything,  — whose  incompar 
able  capacities  would  have  been  sufficient,  under 
wise  direction,  to  have  given  the  highest  rank 
among  the  few  men  that  have  changed  the  destiny 
of  the  world ;  but  who  could  not  succeed  in  gov 
ernment,  because  they  never  saw  men  until  they 
ran  against  them. 

"  Such  admirable  qualities,  united  to  such  strength 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  315 

and  love  for  active  service,  gave  him  reputation 
and  rank,  and  opened  the  way  to  the  campaigns  in 
Kentucky  against  Marshall,  at  Prestonburg  and 
Middle  Creek, — the  last  a  cause  of  other  vic 
tories  elsewhere,  —  and  at  Tullahoma  and  Chicka- 
mauga. 

"  His  knowledge  of  law  opened  a  new  field  of 
activity  and  service,  of  great  benefit  to  him  and 
to  the  Government.  But  little  attention  had  been 
given  by  professors  of  legal  science,  at  the  open 
ing  of  the  war,  to  the  study  of  military  law.  In 
the  field  where  it  was  to  be  administered,  great 
difficulties  were  encountered  in  determining  what 

o 

the  law  was  and  who  was  to  execute  it.  A  dis 
tinguished  jurist,  Dr.  Francis  Lieber,  was  ap 
pointed  by  the  Government  to  codify  and  digest 
the  principles  and  precedents  of  this  abstruse  de 
partment  of  the  science  of  law.  But  it  opened  to 
Garfield,  long  before  the  digest  was  completed,  a 
peculiar  field  for  tireless  research  and  labor  in  new 
fields  of  inquiry.  Once  installed  as  an  officer  of 
courts-martial,  his  services  were  found  to  be  indis 
pensable.  From  the  West  he  was  called  to  Wash 
ington,  was  in  confidential  communication  with 
President  Lincoln  in  regard  to  the  military  situa 
tion  in  the  West,  was  a  member  of  the  most  impor 
tant  military  tribunals,  became  a  favorite  and 
proteg6  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  and,  upon  the 
express  wish  of  the  President  and  Secretary,  ac- 


316  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

cepted  his  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  to 
which  he  had  been  chosen  in  1862. 

"  His  career  in  Congress  is  the  important  record 
of  his  life.  For  that  he  was  best  fitted ;  with  it 
he  was  best  satisfied ;  in  it  he  continued  longest, 
and  from  it  rose  to  the  great  destiny  which  has 
given  him  a  deathless  name  and  page  in  the  annals 
of  the  world. 

"The  House  of  Representatives  in  the  age  of 
Clay,  Calhoun  and  Webster  was  an  institution 
quite  unlike  that  of  our  own  time.  Its  numbers 
then  were  small ;  its  leading  men  comparatively 
few ;  but  few  subjects  were  debated,  and  members 
of  the  House  rarely  or  never  introduced  bills  for 
legislative  action.  Its  work  was  prepared  by  com 
mittees,  upon  official  information,  and  gentlemen 
prepared  to  speak  upon  its  business  could  always 
find  an  opportunity.  Now  its  numbers  have  been 
doubled.  More  than  ten  thousand  bills  for  legis 
lative  consideration  are  introduced  in  every  Con 
gress.  The  increase  of  appropriations,  patronage 
and  legislation  is  enormous,  and  the  pressure  for 
action  often  disorderly  and  violent.  Little  cour 
tesy  is  wasted  on  such  occasions,  when  one  or  two 
hundred  members  are  shouting  for  the  floor,  and 
when  one  is  named  by  the  Speaker  it  must  be  a 
strong  man,  ready,  able,  eloquent,  to  gain  or  hold 
the  ear  of  the  House.  Garfield  never  failed 
in  this.  His  look  drew  audience  and  attention. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  317 

He  was  never  unprepared,  never  tedious  ;  always 
began  with  his  subject,  and  took  his  seat  when  he 
had  finished.  He  had  few  controversies,  and  was 
never  called  'to  order'  for  any  cause.  He  wras 
a  debater  rather  than  an  orator ;  always  courteous, 
intelligent,  intelligible,  and  honorable.  The  House 
listened  to  him  with  rapt  attention,  and  he  spoke 
with  decisive  effect  upon  its  judgment.  He 
liked  it  to  be  understood  that  he  was  abreast 
of  the  best  thought  of  the  time,  had  a  great  re 
gard  for  the  authority  of  scientific  leaders,  and 
walked  with  reverential  respect  in  the  tracks  of 
the  best  thinkers  of  the  age.  It  is  a  pleasant 
thing,  this  method  of  settling  all  problems  by 
demonstration  of  exact  science.  Hudibras  must 
have  been  in  error  when  he  spoke  so  lightly  of 
these  scholastic  methods,  saying,  or  rather  sing 
ing,— 

'  That  all  a  rhetorician's  rules 
Teach  him  but  to  name  his  tools.' 

"The  people  watched  with  great  interest  his 
long  and  terrible  struggle  for  life,  and  their  hearts 
trembled  with  alternations  of  hope  and  fear,  as 
they  studied  with  close  attention  the  morning  and 
the  evening  bulletins  giving  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
life's  dark  tide  with  the  precision  of  exact  science  ; 
but  they  read  with  infinite  relief,  if  not  always 
with  satisfaction,  the  telegrams  of  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  American  minister  at  London,  stating, 


318  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES    OF 

in  the  language  of  common  life,  the  changes  that 
had  occurred  in  the  condition  of  the  President 
from  day  to  day. 

"As  chairman  or  prominent  member  of  the 
principal  business  committees  of  the  House,  Gar- 
field  had  always  access  to  the  floor,  and  an  eager 
assembly  as  his  audience.  His  topics  were  gener 
ally  of  a  national  character,  connected  with  the 
organization  and  maintenance  of  the  government ; 
but  there  is  scarcely  any  subject  brought  before 
Congress  to  which  he  has  not,  at  some  time,  given 
a  thorough  and  able  exposition  of  his  views.  The 
best  known  and  most  influential  of  his  speeches 
have  been  in  relation  to  the  war,  financial  affairs, 
the  currency,  and  the  tariff.  These  all  involved 
national  interests,  and  exhibit  on  his  part  a  pro 
found  study  of  every  subject  necessary  to  their 
support.  He  was  from  the  first,  and  constantly, 
a  hard-money  man,  a  leader  in  discussion,  and  a 
supporter  by  his  votes  of  every  proposition  neces 
sary  to  maintain  a  sound  currency.  On  the 
subject  of  the  tariff,  while  he  did  not  deny  that,  as 
an  abstract  question,  the  doctrine  of  free  trade 
presented  an  aspect  of  truth,  yet  he  always  de 
clared  that  under  a  government  like  ours 
protection  of  national  industries  was  indispensable. 
He  advocated  duties  high  enough  to  enable  the 
home  manufacturer  to  make  a  wholesome  competi 
tion  with  foreigners,  but  not  so  high  as  to  subject 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  319 

consumers  to  a  monopoly  of  product  or  supply.  A 
moderate  and  permanent  protection  was  the  doc 
trine  he  always  ably  sustained.  It  would  be 
instructive  to  recall  the  expression  of  his  views 
embodied  in  his  speeches  upon  these  subjects, 
which  he  photographed  upon  the  minds  of  those  to 
whom  they  were  addressed,  but  it  is  inappro 
priate  on  the  present  occasion.  Few  men  in  the 
history  of  the  House  of  Representatives  have 
acquired  a  higher  reputation,  and  none  will  be 
more  kindly  and  permanently  remembered. 

"  There  was  much  force  in  a  declaration  made 
by  the  Pastor  of  the  Disciples'  Church,  at  the 
funeral  of  President  Garfield,  in  the  rotunda  of  the 
Capitol  at  Washington.  The  gigantic  proportions 
of  this  apartment  excite  a  strange  sensation  in 
every  visitor.  One  familiar  with  the  scene,  recalls 
at  his  entrance  an  ancient  tradition,  often  repeated 
before  the  war,  that  this  majestic  central  apart 
ment  of  the  Capitol  would,  some  day,  witness  the 
coronation  of  a  king.  Apart  from  the  unusual 
solemnity  of  this  occasion,  the  scene  was  of  an 
extraordinary  character.  The  light  that  fell  from 
the  dome  above  gave  a  solemn  aspect  to  the 
apartment.  Distinguished  personages  moved  silent 
ly  and  slowly  to  the  positions  assigned  them. 
Two  ex-Presidents,  immediate  predecessors  of  the 
deceased,  the  only  occupants  of  the  presidential 


320  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

office  that  have  attended  at  such  a  time,  sat  in 
front  of  the  eastern  entrance  of  the  rotunda.  The 
diplomatic  corps,  in  full  court  costume,  were 
placed  in  rear  of  the  ex-Presidents.  Senators, 
judicial  officers  in  their  robes,  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy,  in  brilliant  uniforms,  were  on  the  right. 
Members  and  ex-members  of  the  House,  in  large 
numbers,  attended  by  the  Speaker,  were  massed 
upon  the  left,  and  the  space  around  them  was 
crowded  by  citizens  from  every  part  of  the  country. 
The  vast  assembly  rose  as  the  President,  with  the 
Cabinet  officers  and  the  stricken  family  of  mourn 
ers,  passed  to  their  seats  near  the  casket  of  the 
deceased  Chief  Magistrate, — which  lay  upon  the 
same  bier  that  bore  the  body  of  President  Lincoln, 
just  beneath  the  centre  of  the  canopy  that  from 
the  dome  overhangs  the  rotunda, — guarded  by 
veterans  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The 
walls  were  hung  with  representations  of  important 
events  in  American  history ;  —  the  Landing  of 
Columbus,  De  Soto's  Discovery  of  the  Missis 
sippi,  the  Baptism  of  Pocahontas,  the  Embarka 
tion  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  the  Surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown, 
and  the  Resignation  of  Washington.  On  the  belt 
of  the  rotunda  above  were  seen  Cortez  entering 
the  Temple  of  the  Sun  in  Mexico,  the  Battle  of 
Lexington,  and  other  studies  of  varied  and  mem 
orable  scenes  in  the  history  of  the  Republic. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  321 

"  Simple,  brief,  and  impressive  ceremonies 
heightened  the  deep  and  general  interest  of  the 
occasion.  The  funeral  discourse  was  of  a  purely 
religious  character,  with  scarcely  more  than  a 
brief  allusion  to  the  career  of  the  deceased  Presi 
dent,  and  no  mention,  I  think,  of  his  title  or  his 
name.  But  these  omissions  intensified  the  general 
interest  in  his  brief  personal  allusions.  '  I  do 
believe,'  he  said,  '  that  the  strength  and  beauty 
of  this  man's  character  will  be  found  in  his  disci- 
pleship  of  Christ.' 

"It  is  not  my  province  to  speak  of  the  spiritual 
character  of  this  connection,  but  in  another  rela 
tion  I  believe  it  is  true. 

"  The  Church  of  the  Disciples,  to  which  he  be 
longed,  is  one  of  the  most  primitive  of  Christian 
communions,  excluding  every  thought  of  distrust, 
competition,  or  advantage.  It  gave  him  a  position 
and  mission  unique  and  generic,  like  and  unlike 
that  of  other  men.  While  he  rarely  or  never 
referred  to  it  himself,  and  wished  at  times,  per 
haps,  to  forget  it,  he  was  strengthened  and  pro 
tected  by  it.  It  was  buckler  and  spear  to  him. 
It  brought  him  into  an  immediate  communion  —  a 
relation  made  sacred  by  a  common  faith,  barren  of 
engagements  and  responsibilities  —  with  multi 
tudes  of  other  organizations  and  congregations, 
adherents  and  opponents,  able  and  willing  to  assist 
and  strengthen  him,  present  or  absent,  at  home  or 


322  LITE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

abroad,  who  dismissed  aspersions  upon  his  con 
duct  and  character  as  accusations  of  Pharisees 
against  a  son  of  faith,  and  gave  him  at  all  times  a 
friendly  greeting  and  welcome,  whenever  and 
wherever  he  felt  inspired  to  give  the  world  his 
thought  and  word.  All  great  migrations  and  revo 
lutions  of  men  and  nations  are  born  of  this  spirit 
and  power. 

"  In  another  direction  he  possessed  extraordinary 
capacities.  He  was  animated  by  an  intense  and 
sleepless  spirit  of  acquisition.  It  was  not,  appar 
ently,  a  common  thirst  for  wealth,  precedence,  or 
power  which  stimulates  many  men  in  our  time.  His 
ambition  was  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge. 
From  early  youth  to  the  day  of  his  last  illness  it 
was  a  consuming  passion.  He  gave  to  it  days  and 
nights,  the  strength  of  youth  and  the  vigor  of 
middle  age.  When  in  the  forests  of  New  York,  he 
made  the  rocks  and  trees  to  personate  the  heroes 
of  his  early  reading.  When  engaged  in  the  duties 
of  his  professorship,  he  found  time  for  other 
studies  than  those  prescribed  by  the  faculty,  and 
for  lectures,  addresses,  and  many  other  intel 
lectual  pursuits.  He  studied  law  while  at  college 
without  the  knowledge  of  his  intimate  friends, 
until  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  When  in  Con 
gress,  he  would  occupy  a  whole  night  in  examina 
tion  of  questions  to  be  considered  the  next  day, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  323 

and  debate  them  as   if  nothing  unusual   had  oc 
curred. 

•  •  •  •  •  • 

"  It  was  said  by  one  of  the  wisest  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  that  it  was  '  impossible  to  penetrate  the 
secret  thoughts,  quality  and  judgment  of  man  till 
he  is  put  to  proof  by  high  office  and  administra 
tion  of  the  laws.'  Whatever  we  may  think  of  the 
splendid  record  of  the  late  President  in  every 
walk  of  life  he  followed,  it  does  not  enable  us  to 
anticipate  the  character  and  success  of  the  Admin 
istration  upon  which  he  so  happily  entered.  In 
other  positions  of  public  life,  the  concurrence  of  so 
many  different  influences  is  required  to  accomplish 
even  slight  results,  that  individual  credit  or 
responsibility  therefor  is  but  slight  and  intangible. 
In  the  administration  of  government,  the  highest 
secular  duty  to  which  men  are  ever  called,  respon 
sibility  is  indivisible  and  unchangeable ;  and  the 
final  results,  whether  for  good  or  evil,  are  indel 
ibly  stamped  on  the  woof  and  warp  of  the  web  of 
time,  and  will  so  remain  forever.  Good  inten 
tions  are  of  no  account,  and  a  plea  of  confession 
and  avoidance,  —  admitting  failure  and  disclaiming 
error,  —  so  advantageous  in  other  cases,  never 
governs  the  world  in  judging  men  who  fail  rightly 
to  administer  government.  We  are  happy  in 
being  absolved  from  the  responsibility  of  judgment 
where  decision  is  impossible. 


324  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

"  Undoubtedly,  the  open  assertion  in  some  parts 
of  the  world  of  the  right  of  assassination  as  a 
method  of  reform  in  administration  and  govern 
ment  may  have  intensified  the  general  interest  in 
this  calamitous  event.  But  the  courage  and  com 
posure  with  which  the  presidential  martyr  bore 
his  affliction ;  the  firmness  and  constancy  of  his 
aged  mother ;  the  serenity  and  saint-like  resigna 
tion  of  the  heroic  wife,  administering  consolation 
and  courage  to  the  husband  and  father,  in  a  voice 
sweet  as  the  zephyrs  of  the  south,  with  a  spirit  as 
gentle  as  love,  and  a  soul  as  dauntless  as  the 
hearts  of  the  women  of  Israel,  —  were  not 
unobserved  or  unhonored.  It  melted  hearts 
in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  drew 
from  the  sons  of  men,  in  every  land  and 
clime,  such  an  attestation  and  confession  of 
the  faith  that  all  created  beings  are  the  chil 
dren  of  one  Father,  as  never  before  fell  from 
human  lips.  We  should  be  dead  to  sensibility  and 
honor  did  we  not  feel  such  unwonted  tests  of  the 
universal  scope  and  sweep  of  human  sympathy 
vouchsafed  to  us  by  the  appointed  leaders  of 
churches,  empires  and  democracies,  and  by  that 
august  lady  the  Queen  of  England  and  Empress  of 
India,  who  presides  over  the  councils  of  the  em 
pire  whence  we  derive  our  ideas  of  Christian 
faith,  language,  liberty  and  law,  who  gave  to  the 
afflicted  children  of  revolted  and  republican 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  325 

America  the  emblems  of  mourning,  reserved  by  the 
customs  of  her  court  to  the  best  beloved  and 
bravest  of  her  realm,  and  sent,  over  her  own 
hand,  to  the  wife,  mother  and  orphans,  swift  and 
touching  evidence  of  the  strength  of  her  sympathy 
and  the  depths  of  her  sorrow — the  grandest  of 
sovereigns  and  noblest  of  women  ! 

!t  We  turn  from  this  record  of  active  and  honor 
able  service  to  a  brief  consideration,  such  as  the 
occasion  permits,  of  the  elements  of  character 
which  distinguished  President  Garfield.  After  all, 
character  is  the  only  enduring  form  of  wealth.  It 
is  the  power  by  which  the  world  is  ruled,  and  the 
only  legacy  of  true  value  that  can  be  transmitted 
to  posterity. 

"We  cannot  forget  what  occurred  during  the  ad 
ministration  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  or  of  his  successor, 
Mr.  Johnson.  We  have  witnessed  no  such  politi 
cal  convulsions  in  our  day.  No  one  ever  justified 
the  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln  on  such  grounds, 
or  would  now  counsel  such  violence  against  the 
chiefs  of  earlier  administrations.  Neither  can  it 
now  be  done  with  truth  or  justice.  Those  who 
enlisted  in  the  opposition  to  past  administrations 
were  men  whose  intellectual  and  moral  natures  re 
strained  them  from  the  execution  of  purposes  dic 
tated  by  passion.  To  those  whose  feeble  intellects 
deprive  them  of  moral  restraint  we  should  give 
support,  and  never  justify,  by  thought  or  act,  con- 


326  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

duct  that,  under  other  circumstances,  might  have 
endangered  the  lives  of  every  President  of  the  Re 
public  !  There  is  no  cause  or  incitement  to  crime 
in  the  political  controversies  of  this  year,  that 
might  not  have  occurred  under  any  other  adminis 
tration  ;  and  no  cause  or  justification,  of  any  kind 
whatever,  for  such  an  ineffable  and  inexpiable 
crime  as  the  murder  of  the  mild,  generous,  warm 
hearted,  forgiving,  and  Christian  Chief  Magistrate 
whose  loss  we  mourn. 

"  Political  assassination  is  not  insanity.  It  pro 
ceeds  from  infection  and  distemper  of  the  mind. 
It  is  not  necessarily  limited  to  the  reform  admin 
istrations  and  governments,  nor  to  any  special 
form  of  government.  It  can  as  well  be  applied  to 
the  settlement  of  a  grocery  bill,  if  an  excitation  be 
created,  as  to  the  overthrow  of  a  dynasty. 

"It  is  another  form  of  the  doctrine  of  annihilation, 
and  the  remedy  for  its  evil  is  to  avoid  convulsions, 
private  and  public,  restrain  passion,  avoid  injustice, 
practise  moderation  in  all  things,  and  do  no  evil 
that  good  may  come. 

"  The  year  1881  is  the  complement  of  the  full 
half-century  since  the  first  open  movement  was 
organized  for  the  control  or  destruction  of  our 
government.  The  lesson  of  this  half-century,  with 
all  its  trials,  sacrifices  and  triumphs,  is  that  it  is 
good  to  maintain  and  defend  the  government  of 
our  country  and  its  lawfully  constituted  authori- 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  327 

ties,  whether  or  not  we  created  them  or  like  them. 
In  the  contemplation  of  this  half-century,  can  we 
find  cause  to  wish  the  government  had  been  de 
stroyed  ?  Or  can  we  now  wish  it  destroyed  ? 

"The  lesson  of  Garfield's  life  is  an  admonition  to 
protect  and  defend  the  government.  His  birth 
marks  the  period  when  it  was  first  assailed  by 
enemies  domestic ;  and  at  the  close  of  his  life  he 
gave  his  last  hours  of  health  and  strength  to  im 
prove  and  protect  it.  His  last  friend  should  give 
his  last  sigh  to  maintain  it,  not  for  his  honor, 
which  is  untarnished,  nor  his  glory,  which  is  im 
maculate,  but  for  his  country,  which  still  has  perils 
to  encounter,  and  liberties  to  defend,  for  the  bene 
fit  of  mankind." 


328  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Southern  Feeling.  —  Memorial  Services  at  Jefferson,  Kentucky.  — • 
Extracts  from  Address  by  Henry  Watterson.  —  Senator  Bayard.  — . 
Ex-Speaker  Randall.  —  Senator  Hill.  —  Extracts  from  some  of 
the  Southern  Journals. 

AT  the  United  States  military  post  at  Jefferson, 
Kentucky,  memorial  services  were  held  in  the 
presence  of  fifteen  thousand  people. 

Henry  Watterson,  the  Democratic  ex-Congress 
man,  gave  an  eloquent  address,  from  which  we 
quote  the  following  :  — 

"  I  knew  him  well,  and  know  now  that  I  loved 
him.  He  was  a  man  of  ample  soul,  with  the 
strength  of  a  giant,  the  courage  of  a  lion,  and  the 
heart  of  a  dove.  There  never  lived  a  man  who 
yearned  for  the  approval  of  his  fellow-men,  who 
felt  their  anger  more.  There  never  lived  a  man 
who  struggled  harder  to  realize  Paul's  idea,  and  to 
be  all  things  to  all  men.  Did  ever  the  character 
sketched  by  Paul  find  a  nobler  example,  for  he 
was  blameless,  vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behavior, 
apt  to  teach,  not  given  to  filthy  lucre.  No  one 
without  the  little  family  circle  of  relatives  and 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  329 

friends  in  which  he  lived  will  ever  know  how  a 
certain  dismal,  though  in  truth  trivial,  episode  in 
his  career  cut  him  to  the  soul.  Born  a  poor  man's 
son,  to  live  and  die  a  poor  man,  with  opportuni 
ties  unbounded  for  public  pillage,  with  licensed 
robbery  going  on  all  around  him,  and  he  pinched 
for  the  bare  means  to  maintain  himself,  his  wife 
and  his  little  ones  with  decency  and  comfort,  to  be 
held  up  to  the  scorn  of  men  as  one  not  honest ! 
He  is  gone  now,  and  before  he  went  he  had  out 
lived  the  wounds  which  party  friends  alike  with 
party  foes  had  sought  to  put  upon  his  honor  and 
manhood,  and  maybe  to-day  somewhere  among 
the  stars  he  looks  down  upon  the  world  and  sees 
at  last  how  selfish  and  unreal  were  the  assaults  of 
those  in  whose  way  he  stood.  It  is  a  pleasure  to 
me  to  reflect  amid  these  gloomy  scenes  that  some 
friendly  words  of  mine  gratified  him  at  a  moment 
when  he  suffered  most.  Not  in  the  last  campaign, 
for  it  would  have  been  a  crime  in  me  to  have  hesi 
tated  then,  but  away  back  when  no  vision  of  the 
presidency  had  crossed  the  disc  of  his  ambition, 
and  when  the  cruelest  blows  were  struck  from  be 
hind.  It  is  also  a  pleasure  for  me  to  remember 
the  last  time  I  saw  him.  It  was  during  an  all- 
night  session  of  the  House,  when  in  company  with 
Joseph  Hawley  of  Connecticut,  Randall  Gibson  of 
Louisiana,  and  Randolph  Tucker,  we  took  pos 
session  of  the  committee  rooms  of  Proctor  Knott, 


330  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

who  joined  us  later,  and  turned  all  bickerings  and 
jars  into  happy  forgetfulness  of  section  and  party. 
I  do  well  remember  how  buoyant  he  was  that  night 
in  spirit  and  how  robust  in  thought,  full  of  sugges 
tion,  and  in  repartee,  unaffected  and  genial  ever ; 
how  delighted  to  lay  aside  the  statesman  and  the 
partisan  and  be  a  boy  again,  and  how  loth  he  was, 
with  the  rest,  to  recross  the  narrow  confines  which 
separate  the  real  and  ideal,  and  to  descend  into 
the  hot  abyss  below.  I  could  not  have  gone  thence 
to  blacken  that  man's  character  any  more  than  to 
do  another  deed  of  shame  ;  and  Republican  though 
he  was,  and  party  chief,  he  had  no  truer  friends 
than  the  brilliant  Virginian  whom  he  loved  like  a 
brother,  and  the  eminent  Louisianian  whose  coun 
sels  he  habitually  sought.  I  refer  to  an  incident 
unimportant  in  itself  to  illustrate  a  character 
which  unfolded  to  the  knowledge  of  the  world 
through  affliction,  and  whose  death  has  awakened 
the  love  and  admiration  of  mankind. 

"  All  know  that  he  was  a  man  of  spotless  integrity 
who  might  have  been  rich  by  a  single  deflection, 
but  who  died  poor,  who  broadened  and  rose  in 
height  with  each  rise  in  fortune,  who  was  not  less  a 
scholar  because  he  had  wanted  early  advantages,  and 
who,  not  yet  fifty,  leaves  as  a  priceless  heritage  to 
his  countrymen  the  example  of  how  God-given 
virtues  of  the  head  and  heart  may  be  employed  to 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  uses  of  men,  by  one  who 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  331 

makes  all  things  subordinate  to  the  development  of 
the  good  within  him.  On  all  these  points  we  think 
together ;  there  are  not  two  opinions.  We  stand 
upon  common  ground ;  we  shall  separate  and  go 
hence,  and  each  shall  take  his  way.  Interests  shall 
clash,  beliefs  shall  jar,  party  spirit  shall  lift  its 
horned  head  and  interpose  to  chill  and  cloud  our 
better  natives.  That  is  but  a  condition  of  our 
being.  TV^  are  mortal  and  we  live  in  a  free  land. 
Out  of  discussion  and  dissension  ends  are  shapened  ; 
we  rough-iiewing  in  spite  of  us.  However,  occa 
sions  come  which  remind  us  that  we  have  a  country 
and  are  countrymen  ;  which  tell  us  we  are  a  people 
bound  together  by  many  kindred  ties.  No  matter 
for  our  quarrels,  they  will  pass  away.  No  matter 
for  our  mistakes,  they  shall  be  mended.  But 
yesterday  we  were  at  war  one  with  the  other.  The 
war  is  over.  But  yesterday  we  were  arrayed  in 
the  anger  of  party  conflict ;  behold  how  its  passions 
sleep  in  the  grave  with  Garfield.  I  am  here  to-day 
to  talk  to  you  of  him,  and  through  him  and  in  his 
memory  and  honor  to  talk  of  our  country.  He 
was  its  chief  magistrate,  our  President,  represen 
tative  of  things  common  to  us  all ;  stricken  down 
in  the  fulness  of  life  and  hope  by  wanton  and 
aimless  assassination.  He  fell  like  a  martyr ;  he 
suffered  like  a  hero  ;  he  died  like  a  saint.  Be  his 
grave  forever  and  aye  a  resting  place  for  the 
people,  and  for  the  seeds  that  burst  thereon  to  let 


332  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  violets  bring  spring  flowers  of  peace  and  love 
for  all  the  people.  Citizens,  the  flag  which  waves 
over  us  was  his  flag  and  it  is  our  flag.  Soldiers, 
standing  beneath  that  flag  and  this  armed  fortress 
of  the  Republic,  I  salute  your  flag  and  his  flag 
reverently.  It  is  my  flag.  I  thank  God,  and  I 
shall  teach  my  children  to  thank  God,  that  it  did 
not  go  down  amid  the  fragments  of  a  divided 
country,  but  that  it  floats  to-day,  though  at  half 
mast,  as  a  symbol  of  union  and  liberty,  assuring 
and  reassuring  us,  that  though  the  heart  that  con 
ceived  the  words  be  cold,  and  the  lips  that  uttered 
them  be  dumb,  f  God  reigns  and  the  government 
at  Washington  still  lives.' " 

The  tributes  paid  to  the  memory  of  Garfield  by 
his  political  opponents  show  strikingly  how  widely 
he  was  honored  and  beloved  by  those  who  knew 
him  as  a  friend  as  well  as  the  leader  of  a  party. 

Senator  Bayard  always  treated  the  President 
with  affectionate  respect,  and  mourns  him  deeply. 
Ex-Speaker  Randall  "knew  him  intimately  and 
respected  him  greatly."  Senator  Hill  is  much 
affected  by  the  death.  w  Poor  Garfield,"  he  says, 
"was  a  big-hearted  and  a  big-brained  man.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  last  time  I  saw  him.  He 
was  so  cheerful  and  apparently  happy.  I  never 
saw  him  fuller  of  mental  and  physical  vigor  and 
of  hope  for  the  future  than  then.  I  want  to  always 
remember  him  as  he  appeared  to  me  then — a  per 
fect  man." 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  333 

The  Courier- Journal  of  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
said :  "The  President  is  dead,  and  all  the  nations 
responding  to  that  touch  of  sympathy  which  makes 
the  whole  world  kin  stand  uncovered  in  the  pres 
ence  of  a  calamity  ;  for  tragedies,  ever  calamitous, 
are  doubly  so  when  they  spring  from  murder  and 
attach  themselves  to  the  head  of  the  State,  the 
symbol  of  power,  the  representative  of  the  people 
and  law.  If  ever  mortal  stood  in  these  relations 
to  his  country  and  his  time,  this  man  did  so.  It 
was  the  universal  sense  that  he  did  so  which 
brought  around  his  bedside  his  fellow  citizens 
without  distinction  of  political  opinion,  and  caused 
w^omen  who  had  never  seen  him  to  pray  for  him, 
and  little  children,  who  conceived  not  the  emer 
gency  nor  the  magnitude  nor  the  contingencies 
hanging  upon  his  life,  to  ask  each  day  after  his 
well-being,  as  if  he  were  a  father  ill  and  dying  in 
some  far-off  place.  Perhaps,  too,  the  flash  of  the 
assassin's  pistol  let  in  to  many  a  heart  a  feeling  of 
honest  regret,  before  dormant  and  unconscious, 
that  they  had  consented  to  see  so  good  and  so  use 
ful  a  man  so  pitilessly  assailed  in  his  private  honor 
during  periods  of  angry  partisan  contention,  and  a 
consequent  wish,  personally,  to  disavow  this  and 
to  make  a  part  of  it  at  least  up  to  him  in  his  dire 
misfortune." 

The  Baltimore  Sun  (Independent),  alluding  to 
President  Garfield's  death,  said :  "  Turning  from 


334  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  peculiarly  tragic  and  distressing  circumstances 
of  the  President's  death,  'tis  difficult  to  exaggerate 
the  loss  which  the  nation  sustains  in  his  death  at 
this  time.  Although  his  Administration  was  in  its 
infancy,  President  Garfield  had  already  met  the 
confidence  of  his  country  in  the  integrity  of  his 
purposes,  the  moderation,  soundness  and  con 
servatism  of  his  policy." 

Said  another  Southern  Journal :  "In  his  death, 
mournful  as  it  is,  the  sections  will  evince  a  common 
sympathy  that  may  cement  more  closely  the  bonds 
of  that  fraternity  so  essential  to  the  keeping  of  the 
compact  between  the  States.  North,  South,  East 
and  West  will  join  in  the  grief  over  the  grave  of 
the  dead  President  —  a  sure  sign  that  the  currents 
of  the  national  life  flow  as  strong  as  they  ever  did 
in  the  history  of  the  Union." 

The  New  Orleans  Times  said  :  "  Throughout  our 
whole  land  parties  stand  disarmed,  and  citizens 
bitterly  deplore  the  death  of  James  A.  Garfield. 
Henceforth  he  lives  in  memory,  and  though  he 
was  permitted  to  accomplish  but  little  during  his 
presidential  service,  by  his  death  he  has  given  to 
his  countrymen  a  deeper  scrutiny  into  themselves 
—  a  most  precious  service  " 

The  Picayune,  after  referring  to  the  assassination 
of  President  Lincoln,  said  :  "  This  is  a  sadder  story 
in  our  national  life.  It  was  Garfield' s  fortune  to 
come  to  tlie  hi^h  office  of  chief  magistrate  at  a  time 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


335 


when  peace  and  prosperity  reigned  throughout  the 
broad  confines  of  this  great  land.  There  was  naught 
but  sincere  respect  for  his  authority  among  the 
masses,  and  earnest  wishes  in  the  hearts  of  nearly 
all  her  citizens  that  his  administration  might  prove 
a  happy  one  for  himself  as  it  promised  a  prosper 
ous  one  for  the  country.  He  was  worthy  of  so 
proud  a  position,  and  in  his  inaugural  proclaimed 
the  new  life  of  a  nation  .united  not  in  name  but  in 
truth." 


336  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 

Extracts  from  some  of  the  President's  Private  Letters  to  a  Friend 
in  Boston,  bearing  the  same  Family  Name. —  To  Corydon  E. 
Fuller,  a  College  Classmate. 

ONE  of  the  last  letters  written  by  President 
Garfield  was  to  a  gentleman  in  Boston,  who  bore 
the  same  family  name.  They  were  warm  friends 
and  mutually  interested  in  the  Garfield  genealogy. 
They  had  often  spoken  of  the  pleasure  they  would 
take  in  going  over  the  country  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Boston,  where  their  common  ancestors  had  had 
their  homes,  and  they  had  agreed,  should  chance 
ever  bring  them  together  here,  to  take  a  little  ex 
cursion,  and  as  the  President  was  about  starting  on 
a  New  England  tour,  the  letter  related  to  the  long 
anticipated  pleasure.  If  possible,  the  President 
was  to  take  leave  of  his  formal  escort  at  Concord 
and  enjoy  a  quiet  buggy  drive  with  his  friend, 
keeping  perfectly  incognito.  They  were  to  visit 
the  scenes  of  interest  at  Concord,  where  the 
President's  great-uncle,  Abram  Garfield,  from 
whom  he  .gets  his  middle  name,  stood,  perhaps, 
shoulder  id  shoulder  with  John  Hoar,  the  grand- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  337 

father  of  the  chairman  of  the  Republican  conven 
tion  at  Chicago  which  so  unexpectedly  nominated 
him  for  his  fateful  office.  Thence  they  were  to 
drive  through  Lincoln,  Weston,  Waltham  and 
Watertown  —  towns  where  the  homes  of  their  an 
cestors  and  kinsmen  had  stood.  At  Watertown 
the  intention  was  to  rejoin  the  regular  party. 

The  letter  was  evidently  written  late  on  the 
evening  before  he  was  shot,  and  was  in  the  hand 
writing  of  the  President's  private  secretary,  but 
bore  the  clear  signature  of  J.  A.  Garfield.  It 
was  not  sent  from  Washington  until  after  Guiteau's 
shot  had  been  fired,  for  it  bore  the  postmark  of  1 
P.  M.  General  Garfield  had  had  considerable 
correspondence  with  his  friend  about  family  mat 
ters,  and  his  letters  formed  the  basis  of  much 
of  the  accurate  article  on  his  family  genealogy 
printed  in  the  Herald  shortly  after  the  Chicago 
convention.  In  a  letter  he  wrote  :  — 

w  You  can  hardly  imagine  the  pleasure  which 
your  letter  of  the  3d  inst.  has  given  me.  You 
will  better  understand  why,  when  I  tell  you  the 
causes  which  have  so  nearly  shut  me  off  from  any 
knowledge  of  my  ancestry.  My  father  moved 
into  the  wild  woods  of  Ohio  before  he  was  twenty 
years  of  age,  and  died  when  he  was  thirty-three, 
and  of  course  when  all  his  children  were  small, 
and  I,  the  youngest,  but  an  infant.  Separated 
thus  from  the  early  home  of  our  father,  we  had 


338  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

but  scanty  means  of  obtaining  anything  like  ac 
curate  information  of  his  ancestry.  The  most  I 
knew,  until  quite  recently,  were  the  family  tradi 
tions  retained  in  the  memory  of  my  mother,  as 
she  had  heard  them  from  father  and  his  mother. 
During  the  last  eighteen  years  I  have,  from  time 
to  time,  picked  up  fragmentary  facts  and  traditions 
concerning  our  family  and  its  origin.  Many  of 
these  traditions  are  vague  and  no  doubt  worthless, 
but  I  have  no  doubt  they  have  some  truth  in  them. 
One  of  them  is  that  the  family  was  originally  from 
Wales.  This  tallies  with  what  you  say  concern 
ing  the  original  Edward  Garfield  coming  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Chester,  Eng.  I  stood  on  the 
walls  of  Chester  a  little  more  than  four  years  ago, 
and  looked  out  on  the  bleak  mountains  of  Wales, 
whose  northern  boundary  lay  at  my  feet,  along  the 
banks  of  the  Dee.  Possibly  I  was  near  our  ances 
tral  home.  A  Welsh  scholar  told  me,  not  many 
years  ago,  that  he  had  no  doubt  our  family  was 
connected  with  the  builders  of  an  old  castle  in 
Wales,  long  since  in  ruins,  but  still  known  as  Gaer- 
fill  Castle.  I  give  you  this  conjecture  for  what 
it  is  worth.  While  I  was  in  college  at  Williams- 
town,  Mass.,  in  1854  to  1856,  I  went  down  to  old 
Tyringham  and  Lee,  in  Berkshire  County,  Mass., 
and  there  found  a  large  number  of  Garfields,  some 
twenty  families,  old  residents  of  that  neighbor 
hood.  Among  them  were  the  names  Solomon  and 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  339 

Thomas,  which  seemed  to  have  continued  along  in 
the  family.  I  found  that  they  had  come  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Boston.  In  an  old  graveyard  in 
Tyringham  (now  Monterey)  I  found  the  tombstone 
of  Lieutenant  Isaac  Gearfield  (for  that,  I  learn, 
was  the  early  spelling  of  the  name),  and  on  the 
stone  was  recorded  1755  as  the  date  of  his  death. 
The  family  told  me  that  he  (Lieutenant  Isaac) 
crossed  the  mountains  into  the  wilderness  of  west 
ern  Massachusetts  in  about  1739,  and  slept  the 
first  night  under  his  cart.  ...  I  am  sure  I 
do  not  need  to  apologize  to  you  for  this  long  letter, 
for  if  it  gives  you  half  the  pleasure  yours  has  given 
me,  you  will  not  tire  of  its  length.  I  beg  you  to 
write  me  any  further  details  you  may  possess,  and 
any  you  may  hereafter  obtain." 

Following  are  a  number  of  extracts  from  letters 
addressed  to  Mr.  Cory  don  E.  Fuller :  — 

"  WARRENSVILLE,  Jan.  16,  1852. 

"Mr  DEAR  CORYDON  :  Well,  I  quit  writing 
that  evening  to  attend  the  Warrensville  Literary 
Club,  of  which  I  am  a  member.  We  had  a  very 
good  time  considering  the  ' timber.'  We  have 
resolved  ourselves  into  a  senate,  each  member  re 
presenting  some  State  in  the  Union.  I  am  not 
only  President,  but  also  a  representative  from 
South  Carolina,  to  watch  the  interests  of  my  nul 
lifying  constituents.  The  bill  before  our  senate  for 


340  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

our  next  evening  is,  '  That  we  will  assist  financially 
the  Hungarian  exiles,  Kossuth  and  his  compatriots, 
from  our  national  Treasury.'  We  shall  undoubt 
edly  have  a  warm  time.  By  the  way,  what  do  you 
think  of  the  effect  of  the  excitement  in  reference 
to  Kossuth  upon  our  Nation  and  popular  liberty  ? 
How  far  may  our  Government  safely  interfere  in 
the  Hungarian  struggle?  But  I  am  certainly 
rhapsodical  this  time.  You  must  write  to  me  and 
trim  me  up.  I  am  seated  in  my  schoolhouse,  a 
room  about  18  by  20,  with  a  stove  in  the  centre 
and  in  school.,  the  scholars  being  all  around  me  — 
forty  on  the  list.  With  these  facts  before  me  I 
am  led  to  exclaim,  — 

"  Of  all  the  trades  by  men  pursued 

There's  none  that's  more  perplexing 
Than  is  the  country's  pedagogue's  — 
It's  every  way  most  vexing. 

Cooped  in  a  little  narrow  cell, 

As  hot  as  black  Tartarus, 
As  well  in  Pandemonium  dwell, 
As  in  this  little  schoolhouse. 

"  Your  friend  and  classmate, 

"JAMES  A.   GARFIELD." 

The  following  is  taken  from  a  letter  dated  Feb. 
2,  1852,  written  near  the  close  of  the  village 
school  at  Warrensville,  Ohio, — 

"  Oh,  that  I  possessed  the  power  to  scatter  the 
firebrands  of  ambition  among  the  youth  of  the  ris- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  341 

ing  generation,  and  let  them  see  the  greatness  of 
the  age  in  which  they  live  and  the  destiny  to 
which  mankind  are  rushing,  together  with  the  part 
which  they  are  destined  to  act  in  the  great  drama 
of  human  existence.  But,  if  I  cannot  inspire 
them  with  that  spirit,  I  intend  to  keep  it  predomi 
nant  in  my  own  breast,  and  let  it  spur  me  forward 
to  action.  But  let  us  remember  that  knowledge  is 
only  an  increase  of  power,  and  is  only  good  when 
directed  to  good  ends.  Though  a  man  may  have 
all  knowledge,  and  have  not  the  love  of  God  in 
his  heart,  he  will  fall  far  short  of  true  excellence." 

Here  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  written  in 
April,  1853,— 

"To  my  mind  the  whole  catalogue  of  fashionable 
friendships  and  polite  intimacies  are  not  worth  one 
honest  tear  of  sympathy  or  one  heartfelt  emotion 
of  true  friendship.  Unless  I  can  enter  the  inner 
chambers  of  the  soul  and  read  the  inscriptions 
there  upon  those  ever-during  tablets,  and  thus  be 
come  acquainted  with  the  inner  life  and  know  the 
inner  man,  I  care  not  for  intercourse,  for  nothing 

else  is  true  friendship I  have  no  very 

intimate  associates  here,  and  hence,  if  it  please 
you,  I  will  be  social  with  my  pen  and  be  often 
cheered  by  a  letter  from  you.  Let  us  in  all  the 
varied  fortunes  of  human  life  look  forward  to  that 
lamp  which  will  enlighten  the  darkness  of  earth, 
the  valley  of  death,  and  then  become  the  bright  and 


342  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

morning  star  in  the  heaven  of  heavens.  Give  my 
love  to  your  father  and  mother  for  they  seem  like 
mine  also,  and  you  know  you  have  the  love  of 
your  brother,  JAMES." 

The  following  shows  how  keenly  sensitive 
Garfield  was,  even  as  a  boy,  and  how  early  in  life 
he  determined  to  make  a  name  for  himself,  — 

"  WILLIAMSTOWN,  Jan.  28,  1854. 

"  MY  DEAR  CORYDON  :  I  wish  you  were  here 
to-night ;  I  feel  like  waking  up  the  ghosts  of  the 
dead  past,  and  holding  communion  with  spirits  of 
former  days.  In  this  calm  "  night  that  broodeth 
thoughts  "  the  shadows  of  by-gone  days  flit  past, 
and  I  review  each  scene.  That  long  strange  story 
of  my  boyhood,  the  taunts,  jeers,  and  cold, 
averted  looks  of  the  rich  and  the  proud,  chill  me 
again  for  a  moment,  as  did  the  real  ones  of  former 
days.  Then  comes  the  burning  heart,  the  high  re 
solve,  the  settled  determination,  and  the  days  and 
nights  of  struggling  toil,  those  dreary  days  when 
the  heavens  seemed  to  frown  and  the  icy  heart  of 
the  cold  world  seemed  not  to  give  one  throb  in 
unison  with  mine With  regards,  I  re 
main,  as  ever,  your  friend  and  classmate, 

"JAMES  A.  GARFIELD." 
"  NIAGARA,  Nov.  5,  1853. 

"  CORYDON,  MY  BROTHER  :  I  am  now  leaning 
against  the  trunk  of  an  evergreen  tree  on  a  beauti- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  343 

ful  island  in  the  midst  of  Niagara's  foaming  waters. 
I  am  alone.  No  breath  of  wind  disturbs  the 
leaves  of  evergreen,  which  hang  mute  and  motion 
less  around  me.  Animated  nature  is  silent,  for 
the  voice  of  God,  like  the  "  sound  of  many  waters," 
is  lifted  up  from  the  swathing  clouds  of  hoary 
foam  that  rest  upon  the  dark  abyss  below. 

*  Oh,  fearful  stream. 

How  do  th"  terrors  tear  me  from  myself 
And  fill  my  soul  with  wonder.' 

I  gaze  upon  the  broad  green  waters  as  they 
come  placid  and  smooth,  like  firm  battalions  of 
embattled  hosts,  moving  in  steady  columns,  till 
the  sloping  channel  stirs  the  depths  and  maddens 
all  the  waters.  Then  with  angry  roar  the  legions 
bound  along  the  opposing  rocks,  until  they  reach 
the  awful  brink,  where,  all  surcharged  with  frantic 
fury,  they  leap  bellowing  down  the  fearful  rocks 
which  thunder  back  the  sullen  echoes  of  thy  voice, 
and  shout  God's  power  above  the  cloudy  skies  ! 
Oh  man !  frail  child  of  dust  thou  art  to  lift  thy 
insect  voice  upcn  this  spot  where  the  Almighty 
thunders  from  the  swelling  floods  that  lift  to 
heaven  their  hoary  breath,  like  clouds  of  smoking 
incense.  Oh,  that  the  assembled  millions  of  the 
earth  could  now  behold  this  scene  sublime  and 
awful,  and  adore  the  everlasting  God  whose 
fingers  piled  these  giant  cliffs,  and  sent  his  sound- 


344  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

ing  seas  to  thunder  down  and  shout  in  deafening 
tones,  '  We  come  from  out  the  hollow  of  His 
hand,  and  haste  to  do  His  bidding.' 

"  Your  friend  and  brother, 

"JAMES  A.  GARFIELD." 

Here  are  a  few  liues  written  in  1859,  just  after 
his  nomination  to  the  Senate  of  Ohio,  — 

"Long  ago,  you  know,  I  had  thought  of  a 
public  career,  but  I  fully  resolved  to  forego  it  all, 
unless  it  could  be  obtained  without  wading  through 
the  mire  into  which  politicians  usually  plunge. 
The  nomination  was  tendered  me,  and  by  acclama 
tion,  though  there  were  five  candidates.  I  never 
solicited  the  place,  nor  did  I  make  any  bargain  to 
secure  it.  I  shall  endeavor  to  do  my  duty,  and  if 
I  never  rise  any  higher,  I  hope  to  have  the  con 
solation  that  my  manhood  is  unsullied  by  the  past." 

"  WILLIAMSTOWN,  June  19,  1855. 
"  MY  DEAR  CORYDON  :  Your  favor  of  the  4th 
inst.  was  received  about  ten  days  ago,  but  I  have 
been  entirely  unable  to  answer  until  this  time.  A 
day  or  two  after  it  came  I  left  for  Pittstown,  N.  Y., 
to  attend  a  yearly  meeting  of  Disciples,  where  I 
spent  some  four  days,  and  last  Saturday  I  left 
again  for  Poestenkill,  and  spoke  to  the  people 
Saturday  evening  and  three  discourses  on  Lord's 
Day.  .  .  .  We  had  good  meetings  in  each  place, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  345 

and  much  interest.  I  cannot  resist  the  appeals  of 
our  brethren  for  aid  while  I  have  the  strength  to 
speak  to  them.  ...  I  tell  you,  my  dear  brother, 
the  cause  in  which  we  are  engaged  must  take  the 
world.  It  fills  my  soul  when  I  reflect  upon  the 
light,  joy,  and  love  of  the  ancient  Gospel,  and  its 
adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the  human  race.  .  .  . 
I  long  to  be  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  see 
the  army  of  truth  charge  home  upon  the  battalions 
of  hoary-headed  error.  But  I  must  be  content  to 
be  a  spy  for  a  time,  till  I  have  reconnoitred  the 
enemy's  ^tronghold,  and  then  I  hope  to  work. 
Ever  your  friend  .aid  classmate, 

"JAMES  A.  GARFIELD." 

"  DORCHESTER  HEIGHTS,  Jan.  5,  1856. 
"My  DEAR  CORYDON  AND  MARY:   I   want  to 
>encil   a   few  lines  to   you  from  this  enchanting 
vpot  on  the  sea-shore,  six  miles  from  Boston,  and 
when  I  return,  perhaps  I  will  ink  it  in  a  letter  to 
rou.     I  am  spending  the  night  here  with  a  class 
mate  of  mine,  one  of  the  dearest  friends  I  have  in 
college.     I  am  in  an  old  house  —  every  timber  of 
:>ak —  built  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago.     To 
Dne  who  has  seen  cities  rise  from  the  wild  forest  in 
he  space  of  a  dozen  years,  and  has  hardly  ever 
seen  a  building  older  than  himself,  you  may  be 
issured  that  many  reflections  are  awakened  by  the 
ook  of  antiquity  that  everything  has  around  me. 


346  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  quaint  old  beams  and  panelled  walls,  the 
heavy  double  windows  that  look  out  ocean- 
ward,  in  short,  the  whole  air  of  the  building 
speaks  of  the  days  of  the  olden  time.  To  think 
that  "these  walls  have  echoed  to  the  shouts  of 
loyalty  to  George  the  King  —  have  heard  all  the 
voices  of  the  spirit-stirring  Revolution,  the  patriotic 
resolve,  the  tramp  of  the  soldier's  foot,  the  voice  of 
the  beloved  Washington,  (for  within  a  few  rods  of 
here  he  made  his  first  Revolutionary  encampment,) 
the  cannon  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  lamentations  of  defeat 
and  shouts  of  victory  —  all  these  cannot  but 
awaken  peculiar  reflections.  To  how  many  that 
are  now  sleepers  in  the  quiet  church-yard,  or  wan 
derers  in  the  wide,  col  1  world,  has  this  been  the 
dear  ancestral  hall  where  all  the  joys  of  childhood 
were  clustered.  Within  this  oaken-ceiled  chamber 
how  many  bright  hopes  have  been  cherished  and 
high  resolves  formed  ;  how  many  hours  of  serene 
joy,  and  how  many  heart-throbs  of  bitter  anguish  ! 
If  these  walls  had  a  voice  I  would  ask  them  to  tell 
me  the  mingled  scenes  of  joy  and  sorrow  they 
have  witnessed.  But  even  their  silence  has  a 
voice,  and  I  love  to  listen.  But  without  there  is 
no  silence,  for  the  tempest  is  howling  and  snows 
are  drifting.  The  voice  of  the  great  waves,  as 
they  come  rolling  up  against  the  wintry  shore, 
speak  of  Him  f  whose  voice  is  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters.'  Only  a  few  miles  from  here  is  the  spot 
where  — 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  347 

•The  breaking  waves  dashed  high 

On  a  stern  and  rock-bound  coast, 
And  the  woods  against  a  stormy  sky 

Their  giant  branches  tossed ; 
And  the  heavy  night  hung  dark, 

The  hills  and  waters  o'er, 
When  a  band  of  pilgrims  moored  their  bark 

On  the  wild  New-England  shore.' 

"  But  the  coal  has  sunk  to  the  lowest  bar  in  the 
grate  beside  me — 'tis  far  past  the  noon  of  night, 
and  I  must  close.  ...  As  ever,  your  own 
affectionate  JAMES." 

The  following  letter,  written  to  Mr.  Fuller  while 
Gen.  Garfield  was  chief-of-staff  to  Gen.  Rose- 
crans,  will  be  of  special  historical  value,  — 

"HEADQUARTERS   DEPT.    OF   THE    CUMBERLAND, 

"  MURFREESBORO,  Tenn.,  May  4,  1863. 
"  MY  DEAR  CORYDON  :  Yours  of  April  1  was 
received  by  the  hand  of  Lieut.  Beeber,  and  I 
assure  you  it  was  read  with  great  pleasure.  When 
I  was  in  Washington  last  winter  I  saw  Mr.  Col- 
fax,  who  spoke  very  kindly  and  highly  of  you.  I 
have  now  fully  recovered  my  health,  and  for  the 
last  three  months  have  been  very  hardy  and 
robust.  My  duties  are  very  full  of  work  here, 
and  I  have  never  been  more  pressingly  crowded 
with  labor  than  now.  I  have  not  retired  on  an 
average  before  two  o'clock  for  the  last  two  months 
and  a  half.  Gen.  Rosecrans  shares  all  his  counsels 


348  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

with  me,  and  places  a  large  share  of  the  responsi 
bility  of  the  management  of  this  wing  upon  me ; 
even  more  than  I  sometimes  wish  he  did.  This 
army  is  now  in  admirable  condition.  The  poor 
and  weak  material  has  been  worked  out,  and  what 
we  now  have  is  hard  brawn  and  solid  muscle.  It 
is  in  an  admirable  state  of  discipline,  and  when 
its  engineries  are  fully  set  in  motion,  it  will  make 
itself  felt.  From  all  the  present  indications  it 
cannot  be  long  before  we  meet  the  rebel  army  now 
in  our  front,  and  try  its  strength  again.  When 
that  day  arrives,  it  bids  fair  to  be  the  bloodiest 
fighting  of  the  war.  One  thing  is  settled  in  my 
mind.  Direct  blows  at  the  rebel  army,  bloody 
fighting  is  all  that  can  end  the  rebellion.  In 
European  wars,  if  you  capture  the  chief  city  of  a 
nation,  you  have  substantially  captured  the  nation. 
The  army  that  holds  London,  Paris,  Vienna  or 
Berlin,  holds  England,  France,  Austria  or  Prussia. 
Not  so  in  this  war.  The  rebels  have  no  city  the 
capture  of  which  will  overthrow  their  power.  If 
we  take  Richmond,  the  rebel  Government  can  be 
put  on  wheels  and  trundled  away  into  the 
interior  with  all  its  archives  in  two  days.  Hence 
our  real  objective  point  is  not  any  place  or  dis 
trict,  but  the  rebel  army,  wherever  we  find  it. 
We  must  crush  and  pulverize  them,  and  then  all 
places  and  territories  fall  into  our  hands  as  a  con 
sequence.  These  views  lead  me  to  a  hope  and 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  349 

belief  that  before  many  days  we  shall  join  in  a 
death-grapple  with  Bragg  and  Johnson.  God 
grant  that  we  may  be  successful.  The  armies  are 
nearly  equal  in  number,  and  both  are  filled  with 
veteran  soldiers  well  drilled  and  disciplined.  The 
little  circumstance  you  related  to  me  of  the  soldier 
in  the  Fifty-first  Indiana  touches  my  heart."  [A 
soldier  who  was  killed  had  written  home  to  his 
wife  to  name  their  child,  born  during  the  former's 
absence,  after  Gen.  Garfield.]  "  I  wish  you  would 
write  a  letter  for  me  to  Joseph  Lay,  the  young 
man's  father,  and  express  my  sympathy  with  him 
for  the  loss  of  his  brave  son,  who  was  many  times 
with  me  under  the  fire  of  the  enemy.  I  want  to 
know  of  the  health  of  his  family,  and  especially 
of  that  little  one  to  whom  the  affection  of  the 
father  gave  my  name.  With  the  love  of  other 
days,  I  am,  as  ever,  your  brother,  JAMES." 

Here  is  a  glimpse  of  his  home  life,  — 

"  WASHINGTON,  Oct.  23,  1876. 

"  MY  DEAR  CORYDON  :  On  Saturday  last  I  ad 
dressed  a  large  Republican  meeting  at  Hackensack, 
four  miles  from  Schraalenburg,  where  I  went  with 
you  twenty-two  years  ago.  I  have  never  been  so 
near  there  before,  and  it  brought  up  the  old  memo 
ries  to  be  so  near.  I  was  called  here  by  telegraph 
to  the  bedside  of  our  little  boy  Edward,  who  is  very 


350  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

ill  and  I  fear  will  not  recover.  He  was  recovering 
from  the  whooping  cough,  and  his  disease  went 
to  his  brain.  He  has  now  been  lying  in  an  uncon 
scious  state  nearly  four  days,  and  unless  the 
pressure  can  soon  be  removed,  he  cannot  last  long. 
He  is  a  beautiful  child  of  two  years,  and  the  thought 
of  losing  him  rives  our  hearts.  But  he  is  in  the 
keeping  of  our  good  Father,  who  knows  what  is 
best  for  us.  All  the  rest  of  us  are  well.  I  have 
worked  very  hard  this  campaign,  having  spoken 
almost  constantly  for  two  months.  You  have 
probably  seen  that  I  was  re-elected  by  about  9,000 
majority,  this  being  my  eighth  election ;  but  of 
what  avail  is  public  honor  in  the  presence  of  death  ? 
It  has  been  a  long  time  since  I  have  heard  from 
you,  and  I  hope  that  you  wTill  write  soon.  'Crete 
joins  me  in  love  to  you  and  Mary. 

"  Ever  your  friend  and  classmate, 

"JAMES  A.  GARFIELD." 

"  WASHINGTON,  Nov.  9,  1876. 

"  Mr  DEAR  CORYDON  : ,  I  arrived  in  this  city 
yesterday  afternoon  and  found  that  your  kind  let 
ter  of  the  2d  inst.  was  awaiting  me.  Our  precious 
little  Eddie  died  on  the  25th  of  October,  and  the 
same  evening  'Crete  and  I  left  with  the  body,  and 
on  the  27th  we  buried  him  beside  our  little  girl  who 
died  thirteen  years  ago.  Both  are  lying  in  the" 
graveyard  at  Hiram,  and  we  have  come  back  to 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  351 

those  which  are  still  left  us,  but  with  a  desolation 
in  our  hearts  ^.xiown  only  to  those  who  have  lost  a 
precious  child.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  are  many 
years  older  than  we  were  wrhen  the  dear  little  boy 
died.  His  little  baby  ways  so  filled  the  house  with 
joy  that  the  silence  he  has  left  is  heartbreaking. 
It  needs  all  my  philosophy  and  courage  to  bear  it. 
It  was  very  hard  to  go  on  with  the  work  of  the 
great  campaign  with  so  great  a  grief  in  my  heart, 
but  I  knew  that  it  was  my  duty,  and  I  did  it  as  well 
as  I  could.  I  spoke  almost  every  day  till  the 
election,  but  it  now  appears  that  we  are  defeated. 
What  the  future  of  our  country  will  be  no  one  can 
tell.  The  only  safety  we  can  rely  on  lies  in  the 
closeness  of  the  vote  both  on  the  Presidency  and 
on  the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 
We  have  so  far  reduced  the  strength  of  the 
Democratic  House  that  I  hope  they  will  not  be 
able  to  do  much  harm.  Still  we  shall  have  a  hard, 
uncomfortable  struggle  to  save  the  fruits  of  our 
great  war.  We  shall  need  all  the  wrisdom  and 
patriotism  the  country  possesses  to  save  ourselves 
from  irretrievable  calamity.  If  we  had  carried  the 
House  of  Representatives  it  was  almost  certain  that 
I  should  have  been  elected  Speaker ;  but,  of 
course,  that  has  gone  down  in  the  general  wreck. 
'Crete  joins  me  in  kindest  regards  to  you  and 
May.  I  hope  the  time  may  come  when  we  can 
sit  down  and  renew  the  memories  of  other  days 


352  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

and  enjoy  a  long  visit.  I  am  here  now  for  the 
winter,  and  shall  soon  be  at  work  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  where  I  am  having  a  number  of  important 
cases.  With  as  much  love  as  ever,  I  am  your 
friend  and  brother, 

w  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD." 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  353 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

Reminiscences  of  Corydon  E.  Fuller.  —  Of  one  of  the  Pupils  at  Hiram 
Institute.  —  Garfield's  Keen  Observation.  —  His  Kindness  of 
Heart.  — Anecdote  of  the  Game  of  Ball.  —  Of  the  Lame  Girl  in 
Washington.  —  Of  Brown,  the  ex-Scout  and  old  Boat  Com 
panion. 

MR.  CORYDON  E.  FULLER,  to  whom  the  let 
ters  in  the  preceding  chapter  were  addressed, 
was  one  of  the  most  intimate  of  the  late  Presi 
dent  Garfield's  friends,  and  shared  with  him  the 
early  privations  of  his  academic  and  collegiate 
life.  Mr.  Fuller  said :  "  My  first  acquaintance 
with  Mr.  Garfield  was  in  the  Eclectic  Institute 
at  Hiram  College  in  the  year  1851.  We  entered 
the  school  at  the  same  time.  My  first  recol 
lection  of  him  is  as  a  young  man,  looking  all  of 
twenty  years  old,  about  six  feet  in  height,  power 
fully  built,  with  a  head  of  bushy  hair,  and  weigh 
ing  about  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds.  I 
remember  him  attired  in  Kentucky  jean  clothes 
with  calico  sleeves,  ringing  the  bell  for  the  opening 
of  recitations.  We  very  soon  became  acquainted, 
and  that  was  during  the  Fall  term  of  1851.  At 
this  time  the  Boynton  boys  and  girls,  numbering 


354      LIFE  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES  OF 

six,  were  also  at  the  school.  These  were  closely 
related  to  Garfield.  One  of  them  was  the  Mrs. 
Arnold,  killed  at  the  New  berg  railroad  disaster  at 
the  same  time  with  Thomas  Garfield,  uncle  of  the 
late  President.  In  the  winter  of  1851-2  Mr.  Gar- 
field  taught  school  at  Warrensville,  Cuyahoga 
County,  and  I  at  Hamilton,  Geauga  County.  At 
that  time  we  commenced  corresponding,  and  kept 
it  up  until  the  time  of  his  assassination." 

"  I  remember  once  asking  him,"  said  one  of  Gar- 
field's  pupils,  "  what  was  the  best  way  to  pursue  a 
certain  study,  and  he  said :  r  Use  several  text 
books.  Get  the  views  of  different  authors  as  you 
advance.  In  that  way  you  can  plow  a  broader 
furrow.  I  always  study  in  that  way.'  He  tried 
hard  to  teach  us  to  observe  carefully  and  accurate 
ly.  He  broke  out  one  day  in  the  midst  of  a  les 
son  with  '  Henry  how  many  posts  are  there  under 
the  building  down  stairs  ?  '  Henry  expressed  his 
opinion,  and  the  question  went  around  the  class, 
hardly  one  getting  it  right.  Then  it  was  :  '  How 
many  boot-scrapers  are  there  at  the  door  ? '  '  How 
many  windows  in  the  building  ? '  '  How  many  trees 
in  the  field  ! '  f  What  were  the  colors  of  different 
rooms,  and  the  peculiarities  of  any  familiar  ob 
jects?'  He  was  the  keenest  observer  I  ever  saw, 
I  think  he  noticed  and  numbered  every  button  on 
our  coats." 

"There  was  one  grand  thing  about  President 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  355 

Garfield,"  said  one  who  knew  him  well,  "  and  that 
was  he  never  felt  ashamed  to  work,  no  matter 
what  position  he  filled.  He  was  always  engaged 
in  something,  and  I  have  never  seen  him  alone 
when  his  thoughts  were  not  deeply  engaged  in 
something.  One  great  thing  that  was  no  doubt 
the  greatest  secret  of  his  success,  was  his  constant 
desire  to  be  elevated  to  a  higher  position.  He  was 
always  reaching  for  something,  and  never  gave  up 
until  he  received  that  for  which  he  was  working. 
Again,  he  never  was  ashamed  of  his  low  condition 
or  poverty,  and  I  have  often  heard  him  say,  during 
the  course  of  conversations,  that '  there  never  was 
a  grander  thing  to  see  than  a  man  or  woman  in 
earnest  in  anything  they  undertake.  No  matter 
whether  they  may  be  right  or  wrong,  to  see  them  in 
dead  earnest  and  working  for  dear  life  for  the  ob 
ject  of  their  desire  is  a  noble  sight  to  witness.'  I'll 
call  your  attention  to  another  fact :  he  always  went 
along  with  his  eyes  and  ears  open,  catching  up 
every  opportunity  to  learn  something.  He  would 
walk  along  the  street,  and  to  merely  glance  at  a 
stranger  would  not  satisfy  him,  but  he  would  watch 
a  person  and  try  to  discover  something  in  his 
countenance,  and  he  couldn't  look  at  a  lady  with 
out  being  able  to  tell  you  the  color  of  every  ribbon 
on  her  hat.  He  has  often  told  me  that  the  great 
keeness  of  his  perceptive  faculties  were  often  pain 
ful  to  him.  If  travelling  on  a  railroad  train,  and 


356  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  cars  by  chance  would  stop  a  short  time,  he  was 
out  inquiring  the  cause  of  the  delay,  and  while 
walking  leisurely  along  some  highway  he  would 
meet  a  German  or  Irishman  working,  when  he  would 
stop  and  interrogate  them,  and  then  tell  his  friends 
what  he  had  learned.  He  was  always  determined 
to  learn  something." 

At  one  time  when  walking  with  a  friend  through 
the  streets  of  Cleveland,  Garfield  suddenly  stopped 
and  then  darted  down  a  cellar- way.  Over  the 
door  was  the  sign  "  Saws  and  Files,"  and  a  click 
ing  sound  could  be  heard  below. 

"  I  think  this  fellow  is  cutting  files,"  said  Gar- 
field,  "  and  I  have  never  seen  a  file  cut." 

He  was  right ;  there  was  a  man  below  stairs  who 
was  re-cutting  an  old  file,  so  the  two  friends  stayed 
there  some  ten  minutes,  until  the  whole  process  of 
file-cutting  was  thoroughly  understood. 

"  Garfield  would  never  go  by  anything,"  said 
his  friend,  "  without  understanding  it." 

His  native  kindness  of  heart  is  seen  in  an  inci 
dent  that  occurred  while  he  was  principal  at  Hiram 
Institute.  Ruling  in  the  schoolroom  with  great 
firmness,  he  was  always  ready  to  join  the  boys  in 
their  games  on  the  playground.  One  day,  when 
he  had  taken  his  place  in  a  game  of  ball,  he  hap 
pened  to  see  some  small  boys  close  by  the  fence, 
who  were  looking  on  with  wistful  eyes. 

"  Are  these  boys  not  in  the  game  ?  "  he  said  to 
the  players. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  357 

"What!  those  little  tads?  Of  course  not. 
They'd  spoil  the  game." 

"  But  they  want  to  play,"  said  the  principal, 
"just  as  much  as  we  do.  Let  them  come  in." 

"  Oh  no  !  "  was  the  exclamation  ;  "  it's  no  use  to 
spoil  the  game  ;  they  can't  play." 

"Well,"  said  Garfield,  laying  down  his  bat, 
"  if  they  can't  play  I  won't." 

"  All  right,  then,  let  them  come  in,"  was  the 
answer,  and  so  the  kind-hearted  teacher  won  the 
day. 

Another  story  is  told  as  follows  :  Two  Southern 
ladies  engaged  in  charitable  work  connected  with 
their  church  society  became  interested  in  the  case 
of  a  family  consisting  of  a  blind  man,  his  invalid 
wife,  and  a  lame  daughter.  The  latter  was  at  work 
in  the  fourth  story  of  a  government  building  in 
Washington,  at  a  salary  of  $400  per  annum,  and  to 
get  this  small  amount  she  was  obliged  to  walk  (using 
a  crutch)  nearly  three  miles  each  way  daily  be 
tween  her  house  and  the  printing-room,  and  to 
climb  four  flights  of  stairs  to  her  labors.  This  so 
exhausted  the  poor  child  that  she  was  fast  losing 
her  health.  These  two  Southern  ladies  looked 
about  them  to  see  who,  among  the  influential  men 
in  Washington,  had  the  broadest  human  sympathy, 
and  decided  that  General  James  A.  Garfield,  then 
M.  C.,  was  the  man  most  likely  to  help  them  in 
benefiting  this  afflicted  family.  They  accordingly 


358  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

visited  General  Garfield's  house,  and  found  a  car 
riage  before  the  door.  Though  complete  strangers 
to  him,  they  sent  their  cards  to  the  general,  who 
immediately  came  down  stairs.  He  had  his  over 
coat  thrown  over  his  arm,  but  very  courteously 
greeted  the  ladies  and  asked  what  he  could  do  for 
them.  They  said,  — 

"  We  notice  you  appear  to  be  about  leaving,  and 
perhaps  we  detain  you."  He  replied,  "  I  am  about 
to  take  the  cars,  but  I  will  delay  till  next  train  if  I 
can  in  any  way  be  of  service  to  you ; "  and  he 
showed  them  into  the  parlor  and  introduced  them 
to  his  wife.  When  he  was  told  the  case  he  replied 
that  he  should  be  away  from  Washington  for  two 
or  three  days,  but  if  they  would  remind  him  on 
his  return,  he  would  do  all  he  could  to  assist  them. 
Mrs.  Garfield  engaged  to  remind  the  general  on 
his  return,  which  she  did,  and  through  his  kind 
ness  and  effort  this  lame  girl  was  transferred  from 
the  fourth  floor  to  the  first,  and  her  salary  made 
$1200  instead  of  $400. 

Still  another  instance  of  Garfield's  kindness  of 
heart  is  shown  in  the  following  story  : — 

One  time  when  he  was  about  to  deliver  an 
address  at  Cornell,  a  heavy  hand  was  laid  upon  his 
shoulder,  and  turning  about,  he  saw  Brown,  his 
ex-scout  and  old  boat  companion.  He  was  a  sad- 
looking  wreck  —  with  bleared  eyes,  bloated  face, 
and  garments  that  were  half  tatters.  He  had 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  359 

come,  he  said,  while  the  tears  rolled  down  his 
cheeks,  to  that  quiet  place  to  die,  and  now  he 
could  die  in  peace  because  he  had  seen  his 
'gineral.' 

Garfield  gave  him  money  and  got  him  quarters 
among  some  kind  people,  and  left  him,  telling  him 
to  try  to  be  a  man ;  but,  in  any  event,  to  let  him 
know  if  he  ever  needed  further  help.  A  year  or 
more  passed,  and  no  word  came  from  Brown  ;  but 
then  the  superintendent  of  the  public  hospital  at 
Buffalo  wrote  the  general  that  a  man  was  there 
very  sick,  who,  in  his  delirium,  talked  of  him,  of 
the  Ohio  Canal,  and  of  the  Sandy  Valley  expedi 
tion.  Garfield  knew  at  once  that  it  was  Brown, 
and  immediately  forwarded  funds  to  the  hospital, 
asking  that  he  should  have  every  possible  care 
and  comfort.  The  letter  which  acknowledged  the 
remittance  announced  that  the  poor  fellow  had 
died  —  died,  muttering,  in  his  delirium,  the  name 
'  Jim  Garfield/ 

Garfield  paid  his  funeral  expenses. 

"Poor  Brown  !"  he  exclaimed,  "  he  had  a  rare 
combination  of  good  and  bad  qualities,  with  strong 
traits,  a  ruined  man ;  and  yet,  underneath  the 
ruins,  a  great  deal  of  generous,  self-sacrificing 
noble-heartedness." 


360  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XLVI. 

Remarks  of  a  Personal  Friend.  —  Reminiscences  of  the  President's 
Cousin,  Henry  Boynton.  —  Garfield  as  a  Freemason. 

SAID  a  personal  friend, — 

"No  one  who  saw  President  Garfield  after  his 
installation  in  the  White  House  can  fail  to  have 
observed  the  great  change  which  his  accession  to 
power  had  occasioned  in  him.  Only  at  intervals 
did  his  bright  joyousness  shine  out  again,  as  at  the 
pleasant  home  at  Mentor.  The  very  day  after  he 
became  President,  the  struggle  for  the  spoils  of 
office  began  with  a  fierceness  hitherto  unparalleled 
in  all  the  strife  of  that  kind  which  has  been  seen  at 
Washington.  He  was  half-maddened  by  his  desire 
to  do  justice  to  all  the  contending  factions.  It 
was  this  feeling  which  made  him  slow  to  give 
irrevocable  decisions.  I  was  at  the  White  House 
one  morning,  and  he  referred  to  his  anxiety  not  to 
take  a  step  in  haste  which  he  might  repent  at 
leisure.  The  humor  of  his  own  cautious  slowness 
brought  back  the  twinkle  in  his  eye,  the  smile  on 
the  rosy  lip.  rl  don't  know  when  I  shall  get 
around  to  that,'  he  said.  '  You  know,  there's  no 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  361 

telling  when  the  Mississippi  Eiver  will  reach  a 
given  point.'  The  sluggish  movement  of  the  great 
Father  of  Waters  was  hit  off  to  the  life  by  this 
impromptu  epigram." 

Hardly  had  Garfield  been  nominated  for  the 
presidency,  when  his  neighbors,  those  who  had 
known  him  from  boyhood,  together  with  his  kins 
men,  gathered,  and  raised  upon  his  old  home,  near 
the  spot  where  he  was  born,  a  pole,  and  placed 
thereon  the  candidate's  name.  The  pole  was 
erected  where  the  house  stood  which  Garfield 
with  his  brother  erected  for  their  mother  and 
sisters  with  their  own  hands,  after  the  log  hut,  a 
little  farther  out  in  the  field  nearer  the  wood,  had 
become  unfit  for  habitation.  Thomas  Garfield,  an 
old  man  eighty  years  of  age,  the  one  who  was 
killed  in  a  railroad  accident  soon  after  Gen.  Garfield 
had  been  inaugurated  President,  directed  the  manual 
labor  of  rearing  the  shaft,  and  was  proud  of  his 
work.  Soon  after  it  was  erected  Garfield  himself 
came  from  Mentor  to  look  over  the  old  place 
again,  and  with  proud  satisfaction  looked  upon 
this  expression  of  friendship  of  his  old  neighbors. 
There  is  nothing  except  this  pole  left  to  mark  his 
birthplace,  and  the  old  well,  not  two  rods  off, 
which  he  and  his  brother  dug  to  furnish  water  for 
the  family.  On  the  day  of  the  funeral  services, 
the  torn  and  tattered  banner  which  those  who 
knew  him  from  childhood  to  manhood  had  erected 


362  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

in  his  honor,  was  lazily  floating  in  the  breeze  half 
way  down  the  pole,  showing  in  its  plain  way  the 
sorrow  of  those  who  so  gladly  erected  it  less  than 
twelve  months  ago.  In  the  little  maple  grove  to 
the  left,  children  played  about  the  country  school- 
house,  which  has  replaced  the  log  one  where  the 
dead  President  first  gathered  the  rudiments  upon 
which  he  built  to  such  purpose.  The  old  orchard 
in  its  sere  and  yellow  leaf,  the  dying  grass,  and 
the  turning  maple-leaves,  seemed  to  join  in  the 
general  mourning. 

Adjoining  the  field  where  the  flag  floats  is  an 
unpretentious  farm  almost  as  much  identified  with 
General  Garfield's  early  history  as  the  one  he 
helped  to  clear  of  the  forest  timber  while  he  was 
a  child,  but  it  is  now  free  of  buildings.  Near  by 
is  the  home  of  Henry  B.  Boynton,  cousin  of  the 
dead  President,  and  a  brother  of  Dr.  Boynton, 
who  has  been  so  conspicuously  connected  with  the 
Garfield  family  since  Mrs.  Garfield's  illness  last 
spring.  "  General  Garfield  and  I  were  like  broth 
ers,"  said  he  to  a  visitor,  as  he  turned  from  giving 
some  directions  to  his  farm  hands,  now  sowing  the 
fall  grain  upon  ground  which  the  dead  President 
first  helped  to  break.  He  looked  off  tearfully,  as 
he  spoke,  toward  the  flag  at  half-mast,  marking 
the  birthplace  of  his  life-long  friend.  "  His  father 
died  yonder,  within  a  stone's  throw  of  us,  when 
the  son  was  but  one  and  a  half  years  old  and  I  was 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  363 

but  three  and  a  half.  He  knew  no  other  father 
than  mine,  who  watched  over  the  family  as  if  it 
had  been  his  own.  I  bore  a  peculiar  relation  to 
the  general.  His  father  and  my  father  were  half- 
brothers,  and  his  mother  and  my  mother  were  sis 
ters.  This  very  house  in  which  I  live  was  as  much 
his  home  as  it  was  mine."  They  walked  toward 
the  house  as  he  spoke,  and  had  here  reached  the 
plain  mansion  which  was  the  house  of  the  speak 
er's  ancestors,  as  well  as  General  Garfield's,  and 
passed  inside,  to  find  his  good  housewife  silent 
and  tearful,  and  whose  swollen  eyes  told  plainer 
than  words  the  terrible  sorrow  they  all  felt. 

"Over  there,"  said  he,  pointing  to  the  brick 
schoolhouse  in  the  grove  of  maples,  around  which 
the  happy  children  were  playing,  "  is  where  he  and 
I  first  went  to  school.  I  have  read  a  statement 
that  he  could  not  read  or  write  until  he  was  nine 
teen.  He  could  do  both  before  he  was  nine  ;  and 
before  he  was  twelve,  so  familiar  was  he  with  the 
Indian  history  of  the  country,  that  he  had  named 
every  tree  in  the  orchard,  which  his  father  planted 
before  he  was  born,  with  the  name  of  some  In 
dian  chief.  One  favorite  tree  of  his  he  named 
'Tecumseh,'  and  the  branches  of  many  of  those 
old  trees  have  been  cut  since  his  promotion  to  the 
presidency  by  relic  hunters  and  carried  away. 
General  Garfield  was  a  remarkable  boy,  sir,  as 
well  as  man.  It  is  not  possible  to  tell  you  the 


364  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

fight  he  made  amid  poverty  for  a  place  in  life,  and 
how  gradually  he  obtained  it.  When  he  was  a 
boy  he  would  rather  read  than  work.  But  he 
became  a  great  student.  He  had  to  work  after 
he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  In  those  days  we 
were  all  poor,  and  it  took  hard  knocks  to  get  on. 
He  worked  clearing  the  fields  yonder  with  his 
brother,  and  then  cut  cordwood  and  did  other 
farm  labor  to  get  the  necessaries  of  life  for  his 
mother  and  sisters. 

"His  experience  upon  the  canal  was  a  severe  one, 
but  perhaps  useful.  I  can  remember  the  winter 
when  he  came  home  after  the  summer's  service 
there.  He  had  the  chills  all  that  fall  and  winter, 
yet  he  would  shake,  and  get  his  lessons  at  home  ; 
go  over  to  the  school  and  recite,  and  thus  keep  up 
with  his  class.  The  next  spring  found  him  weak 
from  constant  ague.  Yet  he  intended  to  return  to 
the  canal.  Here  came  the  turning  point  in  his  life. 
Mr.  Bates,  who  taught  the  school,  pleaded  with 
him  not  to  do  so,  and  said  that,  if  he  would  con 
tinue  in  school  until  the  next  fall,  he  could  get  a 
certificate.  I  received  my  certificate  about  the 
same  time.  The  next  year  we  went  to  the  semi 
nary  at  Chester,  only  twelve  miles  distant.  Here 
our  books  were  furnished  us,  and  we  cooked  our 
own  victuals.  We  lived  upon  a  dollar  a  week 
each.  Our  diet  was  strong,  but  very  plain  ;  mush 
and  molasses,  pork  and  potatoes.  Saturdays  we 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  365 

took  our  axes  and  went  into  the  woods  and  cut 
cordwood  ;  during  vacations  we  labored  in  the  har 
vest  field,  or  taught  a  district  school,  as  we  could. 
Yonder,"  said  he,  pointing  off  toward  a  beautiful 
valley,  "  about  two  miles  distant  stands  the  school- 
house  where  Garfield  first  taught  school.  He  got 
twelve  dollars  a  month  and  boarded  around.  I  also 
taught  school  in  a  neighboring  town.  You  see,"  con 
tinued  the  farmer,  "that  the  general  and  myself  were 
very  close  to  one  another  from  the  time  either  of 
us  could  lisp  until  he  became  President.  He  visited 
me  here  just  before  election,  and  looked  with  grati 
fication  upon  that  pole  yonder  and  its  flag,  erected 
by  his  neighbors  and  kinsmen.  He  wandered  over 
the  fields  he  himself  had  helped  clear,  and  pointed 
out  to  me  trees,  from  the  limbs  of  which  he  had 
shot  squirrel  after  squirrel,  and  beneath  the 
branches  of  which  he  had  played  and  worked  in 
the  years  of  his  infancy  and  boyhood. 

r  I  forgot  to  say  that  one  of  General  Garfield's 
striking  characteristics  while  he  was  growing  up 
was  that,  when  he  saw  a  boy  in  the  class  excel 
him  in  anything,  he  never  gave  up  until  he  reached 
the  same  standard,  and  even  went  beyond  it.  It 
got  to  be  known  that  no  scholar  could  be  ahead  of 
him.  Our  association  as  men  has  been  almost  as 
close  as  that  of  boys,  although  not  as  constant. 
The  general  never  forgot  his  neighbors  or  less  for 
tunate  kinsmen,  and  often  visited  us,  as  we  did 
him. 


366  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

"Just  before  he  was  inaugurated  I  had  a  conver 
sation  with  him,  which  impressed  me  more  than 
any  other  talk  of  our  lives.  He  said  :  f  Henry,  I 
approach  the  duties  of  the  Presidency  with  much 
reluctance.  I  had  thought  that  at  some  future 
time  it  might  be  possible  for  me  to  aspire  to  that 
position,  but  I  had  been  elected  to  the  Senate, 
and  should  have  preferred  to  serve  the  six  years 
in  that  body  to  which  my  own  State  people  had 
elected  me.  It  would  have  been  six  years  of  com 
parative  rest,  for  service  in  the  Senate  is  much 
easier  than  in  the  House.  I  hope  I  may  discharge 
the  duties  of  the  Presidency  with  satisfaction. 
There  is  one  thing,  however,  that  distresses  me 
more  than  all  else.  All  my  life  I  have  been  mak 
ing  friends,  and  I  have  a  great  many  sincere  ones. 
But  from  the  hour  I  assume  the  Presidency  I  must 
necessarily  begin  making  enemies.  Any  man  who 
wants  an  office  and  does  not  get  it,  will  feel  him 
self  aggrieved.'  Our  conversation  at  this  time 
was  long  and  earnest,  and  seemed  like  returning 
to  the  days  when  we  were  schoolboys  together." 

Garfield  was  made  a  Mason  in  Magnolia  Lodge, 
No.  20,  at  Columbus,  Nov.  22,  1861,  while  he  was 
commander  at  Camp  Chase.  His  affiliation  at  the 
time  of  his  death  was  with  Pentalpha  Lodge,  No. 
23,  and  Columbia  Commandery,  No.  2,  Knights 
Templars,  at  Washington,  D.  C.  Suitar  says 
that  he  was  the  eighth  Mason,  but  the  first  Knight 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  367 

Templar,  who  was  ever  honored  with  the  Presi 
dency.  He  was  a  true  and  courteous  knight,  and 
was  not  only  an  earnest  supporter,  but  a  charter 
member  of  Pentalpha  Lodge.  After  his  election  to 
the  Presidency,  his  commandery  sought  to  express 
their  esteem  for  him  by  attending  the  inauguration, 
and,  although  the  Masonic  law  forbids  any  inter 
ference  with  or  participation  in  politics,  the 
occasion  was  regarded  by  the  right  eminent  grand 
commander  as  sufficiently  important  and  devoid  of 
partisan  coloring  to  grant  the  desired  permission 
for  five  platoons  of  sixteen  knights  each  to  attend 
President  Garfield.  On  the  19th  of  July,  1881, 
he  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  Hansel- 
mann  Commandery,  No.  16,  at  Cincinnati,  and 
they  sent  him  handsomely  engraved  resolutions  of 
sympathy,  which  were  brought  to  his  personal 
notice  during  his  sickness,  to  which  he  appro 
priately  replied  through  his  private  secretary. 


368  LITE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XLVH. 

Poems  in  Memory  of  Garfield,  by  Longfellow.  —  George  Parsons 
Lathrop.  —  From  London  Spectator. —  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes.  — 
N.  Bernard  Carpenter.  —  John  Boyle  O'Reilly.  —  Joaquin  Miller. 
M.  J.  Savage.  —  Julia  Ward  Howe.  —  Rose  Terry  Cooke.  —  Prize 
Ode.  —Kate  Tannett  Woods. 

To  the  tributes  we  have  already  given,  we  add 
a  few  of  the  many  fine  poems  published  in  memory 
of  the  martyred  President. 


PRESIDENT    GARFIELD. 

BY  HENRY  W.  LONGFELLOW. 
" E  venni  dal  martirio  a  questa  pace." 

THESE  words  the  poet  heard  in  Paradise, 
Uttered  by  one  who,  bravely  dying  here, 
In  the  true  faith,  was  living  in  that  sphere, 

Where  the  Celestial  Cross  of  sacrifice 

Spread  its  protecting  arms  athwart  the  skies ; 
And,  set  thereon,  like  jewels  crystal  clear, 
The  souls  magnanimous,  that  knew  not  fear, 

Flashed  their  effulgence  on  his  dazzled  eyes. 

All,  me!  how  dark  the  discipline  of  pain, 
Were  not  the  suffering  followed  by  the  sense 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  369 

Of  infinite  rest  and  infinite  release ! 
This  is  our  consolation ;  and  again 
A  great  soul  cries  to  us  in  our  suspense : 
"I  come  from  martyrdom  unto  this  peace!" 

CAMBRIDGE,  MASS.,  Sept.  26,  1881. 

The  Independent. 


GARFIELD,  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

(Died  Sept.  19,  1881.) 

WHAT  is  this  silence,  that  calls? 

What  is  this  deafness  that  hears  ? 
The  silence  is  Death.     Like  a  voice  it  falls ; 

It  rings  in  the  heedless  ears 

That  never  shall  hearken  again 

To  the  words  of  our  blame  or  praise, 

Nor  the  low-hushed  moan  of  a  nation's  pain 
As  it  rolls  through  the  darkened  days! 

And  the  motionless  body  must  yield 
To  the  spell  of  that  hushed  command. 

Oh,  that  one  of  us,  dying,  had  been  the  shield 
To  save  that  life  for  our  land ! 

Man  that  was  trusted.of  men  — 

Brave,  and  not  fearing  to  die 
More  than  to  face  life's  meanness,  when 

It  clamored  its  partisan  lie ! 

Though  you  leave  us,  we  lose  you  not! 

In  the  Republic  you  live 
Sacred,  and  part  of  its  deathless  lot, 

For  whose  life  your  life  you  give. 


370  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

Garfield  —  the  name  so  plain, 

The  name  we  knew  so  well!  — 
The  name  we  shall  never  forget  again, 

Of  the  man  who  for  honesty  fell! 

Like  another  Winkelried, 

You  drew  to  yourselves  the  spears 
Of  tyrannous  hate,  though  yourself  must  bleed ; 

And  left  us  —  our  pride  and  our  tears. 

Legacy  meet  and  rare, 

Of  one  who  dared  to  be  pure ! 
In  the  hearts  of  the  people  who  love  what  is  fair, 

That  precious  renown  shall  endure. 

O  sorrow  that  falls  like  a  stone 

In  the  midst  of  the  calm  of  our  peace, 

As  the  waves  of  pity  around  you  have  grown, 
So  may  our  truth  increase ! 

GEORGE  PARSONS  LATHROP. 
IN  ENGLAND,  Sept.  20, 1881. 

New  York  Tribune. 


PRESIDENT    GARFIELD. 

THE  hush  of  the  sick-room ;  the  muffled  tread ; 

Fond,  questioning  eye ;  mute  lip,  and  listening  ear ; 

Where  wife  and  children  watch  'twixt  hope  and  fear, 
A  father's,  husband's  living-dying  bed !  — 
The  hush  of  a  great  nation,  when  its  head 

Lies  stricken!     Lo!  along  the  streets  he's  borne, 

Pale,  through  rank'd  crowds,  this  gray  September  mom, 
'Mid  straining  eyes,  sad  brows  unbonneted, 
And  reverent  speechlessness!  —  a  "  people's  voice!  " 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  371 

Nay,  but  a  people's  silence !  through  the  soul 
Of  the  wide  world  its  subtler  echoes  roll, 
O  brother  nation !     England  for  her  part 
Is  with  thee:  God  willing,  she  whose  heart 
Throbbed  with  thy  pain  shall  with  thy  joy  rejoice. 

SEPT.  6, 1881. 

London  Spectator. 


AFTER  THE  BURIAL. 

BY  OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 
I. 

FALLEN  with  autumn's  falling  leaf, 
Ere  yet  his  summer's  noon  was  past, 

Our  friend,  our  guide,  our  trusted  chief,  — 
What  words  can  match  a  woe  so  vast? 

And  whose  the  chartered  claim  to  speak 
The  sacred  grief  where  all  have  part, 

When  sorrow  saddens  every  cheek, 
And  broods  in  every  aching  heart? 

Yet  nature  prompts  the  burning  phrase 
That  thrills  the  hushed  and  shrouded  hall, 

The  loud  lament,  the  sorrowing  praise, 
The  silent  tear  that  love  lets  fall. 

In  loftiest  verse,  in  lowliest  rhyme, 

Shall  strive  unblamed  the  minstrel  choir,  — 

The  singers  of  the  new-born  time, 

And  trembling  age  with  outworn  lyre. 

No  room  for  pride,  no  place  for  blame  — 
We  fling  our  blossoms  on  the  grave, 

Pale,  scentless,  faded,  —  all  we  claim, 
This  only,  —  what  we  had  we  gave. 


372  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Ah,  could  the  grief  of  all  who  mourn 
Blend  in  one  voice  its  bitter  cry, 

The  wail  to  heaven's  high  arches  borne 
Would  echo  through  the  caverned  sky. 


II. 

O  happiest  land  whose  peaceful  choice 
Fills  with  a  breath  its  empty  throne ! 

God,  speaking  through  thy  people's  voice, 
Has  made  that  voice  for  once  his  own. 

No  angry  passion  shakes  the  State 

Whose  weary  servant  seeks  for  rest,  — 

And  who  could  fear  that  scowling  hate 
Would  strike  at  that  unguarded  breast? 

He  stands;  unconscious  of  his  doom, 
In  manly  strength,  erect,  serene,  — 

Around  him  summer  spreads  her  bloom : 
He  falls,  —  what  horror  clothes  the  scene ! 

How  swift  the  sudden  flash  of  woe 

Where  all  was  bright  as  childhood's  dream! 
As  if  from  heaven's  ethereal  bow 

Had  leaped  the  lightning's  arrowy  gleam. 

Blot  the  foul  deed  from  history's  page,  — 

Let  not  the  all-betraying  sun 
Blush  for  the  day  that  stains  an  age 

When  murder's  blackest  wreath  was  won. 


in. 

Pale  on  his  couch  the  sufferer  lies, 
The  weary  battle-ground  of  pain ; 

Love  tends  his  pillow,  science  tries 
Her  every  art,  alas !  in  vain. 


JAMES   A.    GAKFIELD.  373 

The  strife  endures  how  long!  how  long! 

Life,  death,  seem  balanced  in  the  scale; 
While  round  his  bed  a  viewless  throng 

Awaits  each  morrow's  changing  tale. 

In  realms  the  desert  ocean  parts, 

What  myriads  watch  with  tear-filled  eyes, 

His  pulse-beats  echoing  in  their  hearts, 
His  breathings  counted  with  their  sighs! 

Slowly  the  stores  of  life  are  spent, 

Yet  hope  still  battles  with  despair,  — 
Will  heaven  not  yield  when  knees  are  bent? 

Answer,  O  Thou  that  nearest  prayer! 

But  silent  is  the  brazen  sky,  — 

On  sweeps  the  meteor's  threatening  train,  — 
Unswerving  Nature's  mute  reply, 

Bound  in  her  adamantine  chain. 

Not  ours  the  verdict  to  decide 

Whom  death  shall  claim  or  skill  shall  save: 
The  hero's  life  though  Heaven  denied, 

It  gave  our  land  a  martyr's  grave. 

Nor  count  the  teaching  vainly  sent 

How  human  hearts  their  griefs  may  share,  — 

The  lesson  woman's  love  has  lent 

What  hope  may  do,  what  faith  can  bear! 

Farewell!  the  leaf-strewn  earth  enfolds 
Our  stay,  our  pride,  our  hopes,  our  fears ; 

And  autumn's  golden  sun  beholds 
A  nation  bowed,  a  world  in  tears. 

Boston  Globe. 


374  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES    OF 

SONNET  — JAMES  A.   GARFIELD. 

BY  REV.    H.    BERNARD   CARPENTER. 

Lo!  as  a  pure,  white  statue  wrought  with  care 

By  some  strong  hand,  which  moulds  from  Life  and  Death 
Beauty  more  beautiful  than  blood  or  breath, 

And  straight  'tis  veiled ;  and,  whilst  all  men  repair 

To  see  this  wonder  in  the  workshops,  there! 
Behold,  it  gleams  unveiled  to  curious  eye 
Far-seen,  high-placed  in  Art's  pale  gallery, 

Where  all  stand  mute  before  a  work  so  fair : 

So  he,  our  man  of  men,  in  vision  stands, 
With  Pain  and  Patience  crowned  imperial ; 

Death's  veil  has  dropped ;  far  from  this  house  of  woe 

He  hears  one  love-chant  out  of  many  lands, 
Whilst  from  his  mystic  noon-height  he  lets  fall 
His  shadow  o'er  these  hearts  that  bleed  below. 

SEPT.  26,  1881. 

The  Independent. 


MIDNIGHT. 

SEPTEMBER  19,  1881. 

BY   JOHN   BOYLE  O'REILLY. 

ONCE  in  a  lifetime  we  may  see  the  veil 

Tremble  and  lift,  that  hides  symbolic  things : 

The  spirit's  vision,  when  the  senses  fail, 

Sweeps  the  weird  meaning  that  the  outlook  brings. 

Deep  in  the  midst  of  turmoil  it  may  be,  — 
A  crowded  street,  a  forum,  or  a  field,  — 

The  soul  inverts  the  telescope,  to  see 
To-day's  event  in  future  years  revealed. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  375 

Back  from  the  present,  let  us  look  at  Rome ; 

Now,  see  what  Cato  meant,  what  Brutus  said. 
Hark!  the  Athenians  welcome  Cimon  home! 

How  clear  they  are,  those  glimpses  of  the  dead ! 

But  we,  hard  toilers,  we  who  plan  and  weave 
Through  common  days  the  web  of  common  life, 

What  word,  alas !  shall  teach  us  to  receive 
The  mystic  meaning  of  our  peace  and  strife  ? 

Whence  comes  our  symbol?     Surely  God  must  speak; 

No  less  than  he  can  make  us  heed  or  pause: 
Self-seekers  we,  too  busy  or  too  weak 

To  search  beyond  our  daily  lives  and  laws. 

'Gainst  things  occult  our  earth-turned  eyes  rebel ; 

No  sound  of  destiny  can  reach  our  ears ; 
We  have  no  time  for  dreaming  —  Hark !  a  knell,  — 

A  knell  at  midnight!     All  the  nation  hears! 

A  second  grievous  throb!    The  dreamers  wake; 

The  merchant's  soul  forgets  his  goods  and  ships ; 
The  humble  workmen  from  their  slumbers  break; 

The  women  raise  their  eyes  with  quivering  lips ; 

The  miner  rests  upon  his  pick  to  hear; 

The  printer's  type  stops  midway  from  the  case; 
The  solemn  sound  has  reached  the  roisterer's  ear, 

And  brought  the  shame  and  sorrow  to  his  face. 

Again  it  booms!     Oh,  mystic  veil,  upraise!  — 
Behold,  'tis  lifted !     On  the  darkness  drawn, 

A  picture,  lined  with  light!     The  people's  gaze, 
From  sea  to  sea,  beholds  it  till  the  dawn  : 

A  death-bed  scene,  —  a  sinking  sufferer  lies, 
Their  chosen  ruler,  crowned  with  love  and  pride ; 

Around,  his  counsellors,  with  streaming  eyes ; 
His  wife,  heart-broken,  kneeling  by  his  side : 


376  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Death's  shadow  holds  her;  it  will  pass  too  soon; 

She  weeps  in  silence  —  bitterest  of  tears ; 
He  wanders  softly  —  Nature's  kindest  boon, 

And  as  he  whispers  all  the  country  hears. 

For  him  the  pain  is  past,  the  struggle  ends : 
His  cares  and  honors  fade :  his  younger  life 

In  peaceful  Mentor  conies,  with  dear  old  friends ; 
His  mother's  arms  take  home  his  sweet  young  wife ; 

He  stands  among  the  students,  tall  and  strong, 
And  teaches  truths  republican  and  grand : 

He  moves  —  ah,  pitiful !  —  he  sweeps  along, 
O'er  fields  of  carnage  leading  his  command ! 

He  speaks  to  crowded  faces ;  round  him  surge 

Thousands  and  millions  of  excited  men : 
He  hears  them  cheer,  sees  some  great  light  emerge, 

Is  borne  as  on  a  tempest :  then  —  ah,  then ! 

The  fancies  fade,  the  fever's  work  is  past; 

A  moment's  pang  —  then  recollections  thrill: 
He  feels  the  faithful  lips  that  kiss  their  last, 

His  heart  beats  once  in  answer,  and  is  still ! 

The  curtain  falls ;  but  hushed,  as  if  afraid, 

The  people  wait,  tear-stained,  with  heaving  breast; 

'Twill  rise  again,  they  know,  when  he  is  laid 
With  Freedom,  in  the  Capitol,  at  rest. 

Once  more  they  see  him,  in  his  coffin  there, 
As  Lincoln  lay  in  blood-stained  martyr  sleep; 

The  stars  and  stripes  across  his  honored  bier, 
While  Freedom  and  Columbia  o'er  him  weep. 

Boston  Globe. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  377 

REJOICE. 

BY  JOAQUIN  MILLER. 

•« Bear  me  out  of  the  battle,  for  lo!  lam  sorely  wounded." 

I. 

FROM  out  my  deep,  wide-bosomed  West, 

Where  unnamed  heroes  hew  the  way 
For  worlds  to  follow,  with  stern  zest,  — 

Where  gnarled  old  maples  make  array, 
Deep-scarred  from  red  men  gone  to  rest,  — 

Where  pipes  the  quail,  where  squirrels  play 
Through  tossing  trees,  with  nuts  for  toy, 

A  boy  steps  forth,  clear-eyed  and  tall, 
A  bashful  boy,  a  soulful  boy, 

Yet  comely  as  the  sons  of  Saul,  — 
A  boy,  all  friendless,  poor,  unknown. 
Yet  heir-apparent  to  a  throne. 


ii. 


Lo!  Freedom's  bleeding  sacrifice! 

So  like  some  tall  oak  tempest-blown 
Beside  the  storied  stream  he  lies 

Now  at  the  last,  pale-browed  and  prone. 
A  nation  kneels  with  streaming  eyes, 

A  nation  supplicates  the  throne, 
A  nation  holds  him  by  the  hand, 

A  nation  sobs  aloud  at  this : 
The  only  dry  eyes  in  the  land 

Now  at  the  last,  I  think,  are  his. 

Why,  we  should  pray,  God  knoweth  best, 
That  this  grand,  patient  soul  should  rest. 


378  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


in. 

The  world  is  round.     The  wheel  has  run 

Full  circle.     Now  behold  a  grave 
Beneath  the  old  loved  trees  is  done. 

The  druid  oaks  lift  up,  and  wave 
A  solemn  welcome  back.     The  brave 

Old  maples  murmur,  every  one, 
"  Receive  him,  Earth !  "     In  centre  land, 

As  in  the  centre  of  each  heart, 
As  in  the  hollow  of  God's  hand, 

The  coffin  sinks.     And  with  it  part 
All  party  hates !     Now,  not  in  vain 
He  bore  his  peril  and  hard  pain. 


IV. 

Therefore,  I  say,  rejoice !    I  say, 

The  lesson  of  his  life  was  much,  — 
This  boy  that  won,  as  in  a  day, 

The  world's  heart  utterly ;  a  touch 
Of  tenderness  and  tears  ;  the  page 

Of  history  grows  rich  from  such; 
His  name  the  nation's  heritage,  — 

But  oh!  as  some  sweet  angel's  voice 
Spake  this  brave  death  that  touched  us  all, 

Therefore,  I  say,  Rejoice!   rejoice! 
Run  high  the  flags !     Put  by  the  pall ! 
Lo!  all  is  for  the  best  for  all! 

Boston  Globe. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  379 

J.  A.  G. 

HUMANITAS   REGNANS. 
BY  M.  J.  SAVAGE. 

WITH  finger  on  lip,  and  breath  bated 

With  an  eager  and  sad  desire, 
The  world  stood  hushed,  as  it  waited 

For  the  click  of  the  fateful  wire,  — 

"Better : "  and  civilization 

Breathed  freer  and  hoped  again ; 
"  Worse : "  and  through  every  nation 

Went  throbbing  a  thrill  of  pain. 

A  cry  at  midnight !  and  listening  — 
"Dead!"  tolled  out  the  bells  of  despair; 
And  millions  of  eyelids  were  glistening 
As  sobbed  the  sad  tones  on  the  air. 


But  who  is  he  toward  whom  all  eyes  are  turning, 
And  who  is  he  for  whom  all  hearts  are  yearning? 

What  is  the  threat  at  which  earth  holds  its  breath 
While  one  lone  man  a  duel  fights  with  death? 


No  thrones  are  hanging  in  suspense ; 

No  kingdoms  totter  to  their  fall. 
Peace,  with  her  gentle  influence, 

Is  hovering  over  all. 


380  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

'Tis  just  one  man  at  Elberon, 

Who  waiteth  day  by  day, 
Whose  patience  all  our  hearts  hath  won 

As  ebbs  his  life  away. 

His  birthday  waked  no  cannon-boom ; 

No  purple  round  him  hung ; 
A  backwoods  cabin  gave  him  room ; 

And  storms  his  welcome  sung. 

He  seized  the  sceptre  of  that  king 

Who  treads  a  freehold  sod ; 
He  wore  upon  his  brow  that  ring 

That  crowns  a  son  of  God. 

By  his  own  might  he  built  a  throne, 

With  no  unhuman  arts, 
And  by  his  manhood  reigned  alone 

O'er  fifty  millions  hearts. 

Thus  is  humanity's  long  dream, 
Its  highest,  holiest  hope  begun 

To  harden  into  fact,  and  gleam 
A  city  'neath  the  sun  — 

A  city,  not  like  that  which  came 
In  old-time  vision  from  the  skies; 

But  wrought  by  man  through  blood  and  flame, 
From  solid  earth  to  rise,  — 

Man's  city ;  the  ideal  reign 

Where  every  human  right  hath  place ; 

Where  blood,  nor  birth,  nor  priest  again 
Shall  bind  the  weary  race,  — 

In  which  no  king  but  man  shall  be. 

'Twas  this  that  thrilled  with  loving  pain 
The  heart  of  all  the  earth,  as  he 

Died  by  the  sobbing  main. 


JAMES    A.    GAKFIELD.  381 

For,  mightiest  ruler  of  the  earth, 

He  was  the  mightiest,  not  because 
Of  priestly  touch,  or  blood,  or  birth, 

But  by  a  people's  laws. 


O  Garfield!  brave  and  patient  soul! 
Long  as  the  tireless  tides  shall  roll 
About  the  Long  Branch  beaches,  where 
Thy  life  went  out  upon  the  air, 
So  long  thy  land,  from  sea  to  sea, 
Will  hold  thy  manhood's  legacy. 

There  were  two  parties :  there  were  those, 
In  thine  own  party,  called  thy  foes ; 
There  was  a  North ;  there  was  a  South, 
Ere  blazed  the  assassin's  pistol-mouth. 

But  lo!  thy  bed  became  a  throne: 
And  as  the  hours  went  by,  at  length 

The  weakness  of  thine  arm  alone 

Grew  mightier  than  thy  strongest  strength. 

No  petulant  murmur ;  no  vexed  cry 
Of  balked  ambitions ;  but  a  high, 
Grand  patience !     And  thy  whisper  blent 
In  one  heart  all  the  continent. 
To-day  there  are  no  factions  left, 
But  one  America  bereft. 


O  Garfield!  fortunate  in  death  wast  thou, 
Though  at  the  opening  of  a  grand  career! 

Thou  wast  a  meteor  flashing  on  the  brow 
Of  skies  political,  where  oft  appear, 


382  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

And  disappear,  so  many  stars  of  promise.    Then, 
While  all  men  watched  thy  high  course,  wondering 

If  thou  wouldst  upward  sweep,  or  fall  again, 

Thee  from  thine  orbit  mad  hands  thought  to  fling; 

And  lo!  the  meteor,  with  its  fitful  light, 
All  on  a  sudden  stood,  and  was  a  star,  — 

A  radiance  fixed,  to  glorify  the  night 
There  where  the  world's  proud  constellations  are. 

Boston  Globe. 


J.  A.  G. 

BY  JULIA  WARD  HOWE. 

OUR  sorrow  sends  its  shadow  round  the  earth. 
So  brave,  so  true!     A  hero  from  his  birth! 
The  plumes  of  Empire  moult,  in  mourning  draped, 
The  lightning's  message  by  our  tears  is  shaped. 

Life's  vanities  that  blossom  for  an  hour 
Heap  on  his  funeral  car  their  fleeting  flower. 
Commerce  forsakes  her  temples,  blind  and  dim, 
And  pours  her  tardy  gold,  to  homage  him. 

The  notes  of  grief  to  age  familiar  grow 
Before  the  sad  privations  all  must  know; 
But  the  majestic  cadence  which  we  hear 
To-day,  is  new  in  either  hemisphere. 

What  crown  is  this,  high  hung  and  hard  to  reachi 
Whose  glory  so  outshines  our  laboring  speech? 
The  crown  of  Honor,  pure  and  unbetrayed ; 
He  wins  the  spurs  who  bears  the  knightly  aid. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  383 

While  royal  babes  incipient  empire  hold, 
And,  for  bare  promise,  grasp  the  sceptre's  gold, 
This  man  such  service  to  his  age  did  bring 
That  they  who  knew  him  servant  hailed  him  king. 

In  poverty  his  infant  couch  was  spread ; 
His  tender  hands  soon  wrought  for  daily  bread; 
But  from  the  cradle's  bound  his  willing  feet 
The  errand  of  the  moment  went  to  meet. 

When  learning's  page  unfolded  to  his  view, 
The  quick  disciple  straight  a  teacher  grew ; 
And,  when  the  fight  of  freedom  stirred  the  land, 
Armed  was  his  heart  and  resolute  his  hand. 

Wise  in  the  council,  stalwart  in  the  field ! 
Such  rank  supreme  a  workman's  hut  may  yield. 
His  onward  steps  like  measured  marbles  show, 
Climbing  the  height  where  God's  great  flame  doth  glow. 

Ah!  Rose  of  joy,  that  hid'st  a  thorn  so  sharp! 
Ah!  Golden  woof,  that  meet'st  a  severed  warp! 
Ah!  Solemn  comfort,  that  the  stars  rain  down! 
The  hero's  garland  his,  the  martyr's  crown ! 
NEWPORT,  Sept.  25,  1881. 

Boston  Globe. 


HOME   AT  LAST. 

BY    ROSE    TERRY    COOK. 

So  long  he  prayed  to  come, 

Lingered  so  long  away; 
Now,  with  the  muffled  beat  of  drum 
And  solemn  dirges,  at  last  he  hath  come, 
Come  home  to  stay. 


384  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Yes,  he  has  come  to  stay ! 

The  homesick  heart  is  still, 
The  hurried  pulse  and  the  aching  breast 
Now  in  the  lap  of  home  shall  rest; 

He  has  his  will. 

No  more  of  heat  or  chill, 

No  frost  or  evil  blight; 
The  work  of  living  a  life  is  done, 
The  long  fight  over,  the  victory  won, 

He  sleeps  to-night. 

Silent  is  home's  delight, 

Peaceful  its  tranquil  cheer; 
Here  is  the  cool,  unbroken  calm, 
The  soft  wind's  breath  and  the  fir-tree's  balm, 
All,  all  are  here. 

He  and  the  dying  year 

Lie  in  their  slumber  deep. 
Safe  in  the  heart  of  home  at  last, 
Anxious  slumber  nor  grievous  past 

Shall  stir  his  sleep. 

Woe  for  us  to  keep, 

For  him  a  joy  to  last! 
Woe  for  the  land  in  years  to  come, 
Wail,  O  trumpet!  and  mutter,  drum! 
The  dead  comes  home  at  last! 

WINSTED,  CONN. 

The  Independent. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  385 


AN  ODE  ON  THE  ASSASSINATION. 

[A  prize  offered  by  a  London  weekly  for  the  best  poem  on  the 
attempted  assassination  of  President  Garfield  was  awarded  to  the 
author  of  the  following.] 

VEIL  now,  O  Liberty !  thy  blushing  face, 
At  the  fell  deed  that  thrills  a  startled  world ; 

While  fair  Columbia  weeps  in  dire  disgrace, 
And  bows  in  sorrow  o'er  the  banner  furled,  j 

No  graceless  tyrant  falls  by  vengeance  here, 
'Neath  the  wild  justice  of  a  secret  knife ; 

No  red  Ambition  ends  its  grim  career, 
And  expiates  its  horrors  with  its  life. 

Not  here  does  rash  Revenge  misguided  burn, 
To  free  a  nation  with  the  assassin's  dart; 

Or  roused  Despair  in  angry  madness  turn, 
And  tear  its  freedom  from  a  despot's  heart. 

But  where  blest  Liberty  so  widely  reigns, 
And  Peace  and  Plenty  mark  a  smiling  land, 

Here  the  mad  wretch  its  fair  white  record  stains, 
And  blurs  its  beauties  with  a  "  bloody  hand." 

Here  the  elect  of  millions,  and  the  pride 
Of  those  who  own  his  mild  and  peaceful  rule,  • 

Here  virtue  sinks  and  yields  the  crimson  tide, 
Beneath  the  vile  unreason  of  a  fool ! 


386  LIFE   AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

FATHERLESS. 

BY  KATE  TANNATT  WOODS. 

OVER  the  land  the  tidings  sped, 

"  The  leader  has  fallen,  our  chief  is  dead." 

And  over  the  land  a  cry  of  pain 

Began  and  ended  with  Garfield's  name. 

"He  is  dead,"  said  each,  with  tearful  eye: 
"  So  strong,  so  true,  why  must  he  die?  " 
And  the  children  paused  that  autumn  day 
To  talk  of  the  good  man  passed  away. 

Over  the  land  when  the  tidings  came, 
Even  the  babies  lisped  his  name ; 
And  youthful  eyes  grew  sad  that  day 
For  the  fatherless  children  far  away. 

Fatherless,  —word  with  a  life  of  pain; 
Fatherless,  —  never  complete  again ; 
Always  to  miss,  and  never  to  know, 
The  joy  of  his  greeting,  —  his  love  below. 

Missing  the  cheerful  smile  each  day, 
Missing  his  care  in  studies  or  play, 
Missing  each  hour,  each  day,  each  year, 
The  sound  of  a  voice  so  tender  and  dear. 

Fatherless !  only  the  children  can  tell 
The  sound  of  that  dreary  funeral  knell ; 
For  only  they,  in  all  coming  years, 
Find  the  roses  of  youth  bedewed  with  tears. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  387 

Over  the  land  from  shore  to  shore, 
The  prayer  of  the  children  is  echoed  o'er,  — 
"  God  of  the  fatherless,  help  we  pray, 
The  wards  of  our  mourning  nation  to-day." 

Boston  Globe. 
SALEM,  Sept.  24, 1881. 


388  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


CHAPTER  XLVIH. 

Currency.  —  Lincoln.  —  Forms  of  Government.  —  The  Draft.  —  Sla 
very.  —  Human  Progress.  —  Independence.  —  Republicanism  and 
Democracy. — The  Rebellion. — Protection  and  Free  Trade.— 
Radicalism.  —  Education.  —  Reconstruction.  —  William  H.  Sew 
ard.  —  Fourteenth  Amendment.  —  Classical  Studies.  —  History.  — 
Law.  —  Liberty.  —  Statistical  Science.  —  Poverty.  —  Growth.— 
Ethics.  —  The  Salary  Clause.  —  The  Railway  Problem.  —Church 
and  State.  —  Courage.  —  Art.  —  Literature.  —  Character.  —  Public 
Opinion.  —  The  Revenue.  —  Statesmanship.  —  Science.  —  Truth. 
Elements  of  Success.  —  Suffrage.  —  Gustave  Schleicher.  —  Appeal 
to  Young  Men.  —  The  Union.  —  Inaugural. 

[Speech  on  the  Currency.  —  46th  Congress.] 

No  man  can  doubt  that  within  recent  years,  and 
notably  within  recent  months,  the  leading  thinkers 
of  the  civilized  world  have  become  alarmed  at  the 
attitude  of  the  two  precious  metals  in  relation  to 
each  other ;  and  many  leading  thinkers  are  becom 
ing  clearly  of  the  opinion  that,  by  some  wise,  judi 
cious  arrangement,  both  the  precious  metals  must 
be  kept  in  service  for  the  currency  of  the  world. 
And  this  opinion  has  been  very  rapidly  gaining 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  389 

ground  within  the  past  six  months  to  such  an  ex 
tent,  that  England,  which  for  more  than  half  a  cen 
tury  has  stoutly  adhered  to  the  single  gold  stand 
ard,  is  now  seriously  meditating  how  she  may 
harness  both  these  metals  to  the  monetary  car  of 
the  world.  And  yet  outside  of  this  capital,  I  do 
not  this  day  know  of  a  single  great  and  recog 
nized  advocate  of  bi-metallic  money  who  regards 
it  prudent  or  safe  for  any  nation  largely  to  increase 
the  coinage  standard  of  silver  at  the  present  time 
beyond  the  limits  fixed  by  existing  laws.  .  .  .  Yet 
we,  who  during  the  past  two  years  have  coined  far 
more  silver  dollars  than  we  ever  before  coined 
since  the  foundation  of  the  Government ;  ten  times 
as  many  as  we  coined  during  half  a  century  of  our 
national  life  ;  are  to-day  ignoring  and  defying  the 
enlightened  universal  opinion  of  bi-metallism,  and 
saying  that  the  United  States,  single-handed  and 
alone,  can  enter  the  field  and  settle  the  mighty 
issue.  We  are  justifying  the  old  proverb  that 
"fools  rush  in  where  angels  fear  to  tread."  It 
is  sheer  madness,  Mr.  Speaker.  I  once  saw  a 
dog  on  a  great  stack  of  hay  that  had  been  floated 
out  into  the  wild  overflowed  stream  of  a  river, 
with  its  stack-pen  and  foundation  still  holding  to 
gether,  but  ready  to  be  wrecked.  For  a  little 
while  the  animal  appeared  to  be  perfectly  happy. 
His  hay-stack  was  there,  and  the  pen  around  it, 
and  he  seemed  to  think  the  world  bright  and  his 


330  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

happiness  secure,  while  the  sunshine  fell  softly  on 
his  head  and  hay.  But  by  and  by  he  began  to 
discover  that  the  house  and  the  barn,  and  their 
surroundings  were  not  all  there,  as  they  were 
when  he  went  to  sleep  the  night  before ;  and  he 
began  to  see  that  he  could  not  command  all  the 
prospect,  and  peacefully  dominate  the  scene  as  he 
had  done  before. 

So  with  this  House.  We  assume  to  manage  this 
mighty  question  which  has  been  launched  on  the 
wild  current  that  sweeps  over  the  whole  world, 
and  we  bark  from  our  legislative  hay-stacks  as 
though  we  commanded  the  whole  world.  In  the 
name  of  common  sense  and  sanity,  let  us  take 
some  account  of  the  flood ;  let  us  understand  that 
a  deluge  means  something,  and  try  if  we  can  to 
get  our  bearings  before  we  undertake  to  settle  the 
affairs  of  all  mankind  by  a  vote  of  this  House. 
To-day  we  are  coining  one-third  of  all  the  silver 
that  is  being  coined  in  the  round  world.  China  is 
coining  another  third ;  and  all  other  nations  are 
using  the  remaining  one-third  for  subsidiary  coin. 
And  if  we  want  to  take  rank  with  China,  and  part 
company  with  all  of  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
Western  world,  let  us  pass  this  bill,  and  then  "bay 
the  moon  "  as  wTe  float  down  the  whirling  channel 
to  take  our  place  among  the  silver  mono-metallists 
of  Asia. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  391 


[Letter  to  B.  A.  Kimball.] 

COLUMBUS,  OHIO,  February  16,  1861. 

Mr.  Lincoln  has  come  and  gone.  The  rush  of 
people  to  see  him  at  every  point  on  the  route  is 
astonishing.  The  reception  here  was  plain  and 
republican,  but  very  impressive.  He  has  been 
raising  a  respectable  pair  of  dark-brown  whiskers, 
which  decidedly  improve  his  looks,  but  no  ap 
pendage  can  ever  render  him  remarkable  for 
beauty.  On  the  whole,  I  am  greatly  pleased  with 
him.  He  clearly  shows  his  want  of  culture,  and 
the  marks  of  western  life ;  but  there  is  no  touch 
of  affectation  in  him,  and  he  has  a  peculiar  power 
of  impressing  you  that  he  is  frank,  direct,  and 
thoroughly  honest.  His  remarkable  good  sense, 
simple  and  condensed  style  of  expression,  and 
evident  marks  of  indomitable  will,  give  me  great 
hopes  for  the  country.  And,  after  the  long,  dreary 
period  of  Buchanan's  weakness  and  cowardly  im 
becility,  the  people  will  hail  a  strong  and  vigorous 
leader. 

[To  the  Same.] 

A  monarchy  is  more  easily  overthrown  than  a 
rebublic,  because  its  sovereignty  is  concentrated, 
and  a  single  blow,  if  it  be  powerful  enough,  will 
crush  it. 


392  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

As  an  abstract  theory,  the  doctrine  of  Free 
Trade  seems  to  be  universally  true,  but  as  a  ques 
tion  of  practicability,  under  a  government  like 
ours,  the  protective  system  seems  to  be  indis 
pensable. 

[Speech  on  a  Draft  Bill,  June  21,  1864.] 

It  has  never  been  my  policy  to  conceal  a  truth 
merely  because  it  is  unpleasant.  It  may  be  well 
to  smile  in  the  face  of  danger,  but  it  is  neither 
well  nor  wise  to  let  danger  approach  unchallenged 
and  unannounced.  A  brave  nation,  like  a  brave 
man,  desires  to  see  and  measure  the  perils  which 
threaten  it.  It  is  the  right  of  the  American  people 
to  know  the  necessities  of  the  Republic  when  they 
are  called  upon  to  make  sacrifices  for  it.  It  is  this 
lack  of  confidence  in  ourselves  and  the  people, 
this  timid  waiting  for  events  to  control  us  when 
they  should  obey  us,  that  makes  men  oscillate 
between  hope  and  fear ;  now  in  the  sunshine  -of  the 
hill-tops,  and  now  in  the  gloom  and  shadows  of 
the  valley.  To  such  men  the  bulletin  which 
heralds  success  in  the  army  gives  exultation  and 
high  hope ;  the  evening  dispatch,  announcing 
some  slight  disaster  to  our  advancing  columns, 
brings  gloom  and  depression.  Hope  rises  and  falls 
by  the  accidents  of  war,  as  the  mercury  of  the  ther 
mometer  changes  by  the  accidents  of  heat  and 
cold.  Let  us  rather  take  for  our  symbol  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  393 

sailor's  barometer,  which  faithfully  forewarns  him 
of  the  tempest,  and  gives  him  unerring  promise  of 
serene  skies  and  peaceful  seas. 

[Speech  in  New  York  City.  1865,  on  the  Assassination  of 
President  Lincoln.] 

By  this  last  act  of  madness  it  seems  as  though 
the  Rebellion  had  determined  that  the  President 
of  the  soldiers  should  go  with  the  soldiers  who 
have  laid  down  their  lives  on  the  battle-Held. 
They  slew  the  noblest  and  gentlest  heart  that  ever 
put  down  a  rebellion  upon  this  earth.  In  taking 
that  life  they  have  left  "the  iron"  hand  of  the  people 
to  fall  upon  them.  Love  is  on  the  front  of  the 
throne  of  God,  but  justice  and  judgment,  with 
inexorable  dread,  follow  behind ;  and  where  law 
is  slighted  and  mercy  despised,  when  they  have 
rejected  those  who  would  be  their  best  friends, 
then  comes  justice  with  her  hoodwinked  eye,  and 
with  the  sword  and  scales.  From  every  gaping 
wound  of  your  dead  chief,  let  the  voice  go  up  for 
the  people  to  see  to  it  that  our  house  is  swept  and 
garnished.  I  hasten  to  say  one  thing  more.  For 
mere  vengeance  I  would  do  nothing.  This  nation 

o  o 

is  too  great  to  look  for  mere  revenge.  But  for 
security  of  the  future  I  would  do  everything. 


394  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

[Speech  in  Congress  on  the  Constitutional  Amendment  to 
abolish  slavery,  January  13,  1865.] 

On  the  21st  day  of  June,  1788,  our  national 
sovereignty  was  lodged,  by  the  people,  in  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  where  it  still 
resides,  and  for  its  preservation  our  armies  are 
to-day  in  the  field.  In  all  these  stages  of  devel 
opment,  from  colonial  dependence  to  full-orbed 
nationality,  the  people,  not  the  States,  have  been 
omnipotent.  They  have  abolished,  established, 
altered,  and  amended,  as  suited  their  sovereign 
pleasure.  They  made  the  Constitution.  That 
great  charter  tells  its  own  story  best : 

"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tran 
quillity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  gen 
eral  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America." 


That  Constitution,  with  its  amendments,  is  the 
latest  and  the  greatest  utterance  of  American 
sovereignty.  The  hour  is  now  at  hand  when  that 
majestic  sovereign,  for  the  benignant  purpose  of 
securing  still  farther  the  f  blessings  of  liberty,'  is 
about  to  put  forth  another  oracle  ;  is  about  to  de 
clare  that  universal  freedom  shall  be  the  supreme 
law  of  the  land.  Show  me  the  power  that  is 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  395 

authorized  to  forbid  it.  ...  They  made  the  Con 
stitution  what  H,  is.  They  could  have  made  it 
otherwise  then :  they  can  make  it  otherwise  now 

In  the  very  crisis  of  our  fate,  God  brought  us 
face  to  face  with  the  alarming  truth,  that  we  must 
lose  our  own  freedom,,  or  grant  it  to  the  slave. 
In  the  extremity  of  our  distress,  we  called  upon 
the  black  man  to  help  us  save  the  Republic,  and 
amidst  the  very  thunder  of  battle  we  made  a  cov 
enant  with  him,  sealed  both  with  his  blood  and 
ours,  and  witnessed  by  Jehovah,  that  when  the 
nation  was  redeemed,  he  should  be  free,  and  share 
with  us  the  glories  and  blessings  of  freedom.  In 
the  solemn  words  of  the  great  proclamation  of 
emancipation,  we  not  only  declared  the  slaves  for 
ever  free,  but  we  pledged  the  faith  of  the  nation 
"to  maintain  their  freedom" — mark  the  words,  "to 
maintain  their  freedom."  The  Omniscient  witness 
will  appear  in  judgment  against  us  if  we  do  not 
fulfil  that  covenant.  Have  we  done  it?  Have 
we  given  freedom  to  the  black  man?  What  is 
freedom  ?  Is  it  a  mere  negation  ?  the  bare  privi 
lege  of  not  being  chained,  bought,  and  sold, 
branded,  and  scourged?  If  this  be  all,  then  free 
dom  is  a  bitter  mockery,  a  cruel  delusion,  and  it 
may  well  be  questioned  whether  slavery  were  not 
better. 

But  liberty  is  no  negation.     It  is  a  substantive, 


396  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

tangible  reality.  It  is  the  realization  of  those  im 
perishable  truths  of  the  Declaration,  "that  all  men 
are  created  equal,"  that  the  sanction  of  all  just 
government  is  "  the  consent  of  the  governed." 
Can  these  truths  be  realized  until  each  man  has 
a  right  to  be  heard  on  all  matters  relating  to 
himself? 

Mr.  Speaker,  we  did  more  than  merely  to 
break  off  the  chains  of  the  slaves.  The  abolition 
of  slavery  added  four  million  citizens  to  the  Re 
public.  By  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
by  the  decision  of  the  attorney-general,  by  the 
decision  of  all  the  departments  of  our  govern 
ment,  those  men  made  free  are,  by  the  act  of  free 
dom,  made  citizens. 

If  they  are  to  be  disfranchised,  if  they  are  to 
have  no  voice  in  determining  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  to  live  and  labor,  what  hope  have 
they  for  the  future?  It  will  rest  with  their  late 
masters,  whose  treason  they  aided  to  thwart,  to 
determine  whether  negroes  shall  be  permitted  to 
hold  property,  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  education, 
to  enforce  contracts,  to  have  access  to  the  courts 
of  justice  —  in  short,  to  enjoy  any  of  those  rights 
which  give  vitality  and  value  to  freedom.  Who  can 
fail  to  foresee  the  ruin  and  misery  that  await  this 
race  to  whom  the  vision  of  freedom  has  been  pre 
sented  only  to  be  withdrawn,  leaving  them  with- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  397 

out  even  the  aid  which  the  master's  selfish,  com 
mercial  interest  in  their  life  and  service  formerly 
afforded  them?  Will  these  negroes,  remembering 
the  battle-fields  on  which  nearly  two  hundred 
thousand  of  their  number  have  so  bravely  fought, 
and  many  thousands  have  heroically  died,  submit 
to  oppression  as  tamely  and  peaceably  as  in  the 
days  of  slavery?  Under  such  conditions  there 
could  be  no  peace,  no  security,  no  prosperity. 
The  spirit  of  slavery  is  still  among  us ;  it  must  be 
utterly  destroyed  before  we  shall  be  safe. 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  know  of  nothing  more  dan 
gerous  to  a  Republic  than  to  put  into  its  very 
midst  four  million  people,  stripped  of  every  attri 
bute  of  citizenship,  robbed  of  the  right  of  repre 
sentation,  but  bound  to  pay  taxes  to  the  govern 
ment.  If  they  can  endure  it,  we  can  not.  The 
murderer  is  to  be  pitied  more  than  the  murdered 
man  ;  the  robber  more  than  the  robbed.  And  we 
who  defraud  four  million  citizens  of  their  rights 
are  injuring  ourselves  vastly  more  than  we  are 
injuring  the  black  man  whom  we  rob. 

Throughout  the  whole  web  of  national  existence 
we  trace  the  golden  thread  of  human  progress  to 
ward  a  higher  and  better  estate. 

The  life  and  light  of  a  nation  are  inseparable. 


398  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

We  confront  the  dangers  of  suffrage  by  the 
blessings  of  universal  education. 

We  should  do  nothing  inconsistent  with  the 
spirit  and  genius  of  our  institutions.  We  should 
do  nothing  for  revenge,  but  everything  for  secu 
rity  :  nothing  for  the  past ;  everything  for  the 
present  and  future. 

There  are  two  classes  offerees  whose  action  and 
reaction  determine  the  condition  of  a  nation  —  the 
forces  of  Repression  and  Expression.  The  one 
acts  from  without ;  limits,  curbs,  restrains.  The 
other  acts  from  within  ;  expands,  enlarges,  propels. 
Constitutional  forms,  statutory  limitations,  con 
servative  customs,  belong  to  the  first.  The  free 
play  of  individual  life,  opinion,  and  action,  belong 
to  the  second.  If  these  forces  be  happily  balanced, 
if  there  be  a  wise  conservation  and  correlation  of 
both,  a  nation  may  enjoy  the  double  blessing  of 
progress  and  permanence. 

It  matters  little  what  may  be  the  forms  of  Na 
tional  institutions,  if  the  life,  freedom,  and  growth 
of  society  are  secured. 

There  is  no  horizontal  stratification  of  society  in 
this  country  like  the  rocks  in  the  earth,  that  hold 
one  class  down  below  forevermore,  and  let  another 
come  to  the  surface  to  stay  there  forever.  Our 
stratification  is  like  the  ocean,  where  every  indi- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  399 

vidual  drop  is  free  to  move,  and  where  from  the 
sternest  depths  of  the  mighty  deep  any  drop  may 
come  up  to  glitter  on  the  highest  wave  that  rolls. 

The  Union  and  the  Congress  must  share  the 
same  fate.  They  must  rise  or  fall  together. 

Real  political  issues  cannot  be  manufactured  by 
the  leaders  of  political  parties,  and  real  ones  can 
not  be  evaded  by  political  parties.  The  real  polit 
ical  issues  of  the  day  declare  themselves  and  come 
out  of  the  depth  of  that  deep  which  we  call  public 
opinion.  The  nation  has  a  life  of  its  own  as  dis 
tinctly  defined  as  the  life  of  an  individual.  The 
signs  of  its  growth  and  the  periods  of  its  develop 
ment  make  issues  declare  themselves ;  and  the 
man  or  the  political  party  that  does  not  discover 
this,  has  not  learned  the  character  of  the  nation's 
life. 

[Reply  to  Mr.  Lamar,  in  a  Committee  of  the  Whole.] 

Mr.  Chairman,  great  ideas  travel  slowly,  and 
for  a  time  noiselessly,  as  the  gods,  whose  feet 
were  shod  with  wool.  Our  war  of  independence 
was  a  war  of  ideas,  of  ideas  evolved  out  of  two 
hundred  years  of  slow  and  silent  growth.  When, 
one  hundred  years  ago,  our  fathers  announced  as 
self-evident  truths  the  declaration  that  all  men  are 
created  equal,  and  the  only  just  power  of  govern 
ments  is  derived  from  the  consent  of  the  governed, 


400  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

they  uttered  a  doctrine  that  no  nation  had  ever 
adopted,  that  not  one  kingdom  on  the  earth  then 
believed.  Yet  to  our  fathers  it  was  so  plain  that 
they  would  not  debate  it.  They  announced  it  as 
a  truth  "self-evident." 

Whence  came  the  immortal  truths  of  the  Dec 
laration?  To  me  this  was  for  years  the  riddle  of 
our  history.  I  have  searched  long  and  patiently 
through  the  books  of  the  doctrinaires  to  find  the 
germs  from  which  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
sprang.  I  find  hints  in  Locke,  in  Hobbes,  in  Eous- 
seau,  and  Fenelon ;  but  they  were  only  the  hints 
of  dreamers  and  philosophers.  The  great  doc 
trines  of  the  Declaration  germinated  in  the  hearts 
of  our  fathers,  and  were  developed  under  the  new 
influences  of  this  wilderness  world,  by  the  same 
subtile  mystery  which  brings  forth  the  rose  from 
the  germ  of  the  rose-tree.  Unconsciously  to  them 
selves,  the  great  truths  wrere  growing  under  the 
new  conditions,  until,  like  the  century-plant,  they 
blossomed  into  the  matchless  beauty  of  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  whose  fruitage,  increased 
and  increasing,  we  enjoy  to-day. 

It  will  not  do,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  speak  of  the 
gigantic  revolution  through  which  we  have  lately 
passed  as  a  thing  to  be  adjusted  and  settled  by  a 
change  of  administration.  It  was  cyclical,  epochal, 
century -wide,  and  to  be  studied  in  its  broad  and 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  401 

grand  perspective  —  a  revolution  of  even  wider 
scope,  so  far  as  time  is  concerned,  than  the  Revo 
lution  of  1776.  We  have  been  dealing  with  ele 
ments  and  forces  which  have  been  at  work  on  this 
continent  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years. 
I  trust  I  shall  be  excused  if  I  take  a  few  moments 
to  trace  some  of  the  leading  phases  of  the  great 
struggle.  And  in  doing  so,  I  beg  gentlemen  to 
see  that  the  subject  itself  lifts  us  into  a  region 
where  the  individual  sinks  out  of  sight  and  is  ab 
sorbed  in  the  mighty  current  of  great  events.  It 
is  not  the  occasion  to  award  praise  or  pronounce 
condemnation.  In  such  a  revolution  men  are  like 
insects  that  fret  and  toss  in  the  storm,  but  are 
swept  onward  by  the  resistless  movements  of  ele 
ments  beyond  their  control.  I  speak  of  this  revo 
lution  not  to  praise  the  men  who  aided  it,  or  to 
censure  the  men  who  resisted  it,  but  as  a  force  to 
be  studied,  as  a  mandate  to  be  obeyed. 

In  the  year  1620  there  were  planted  upon  this 
continent  two  ideas  irreconcilably  hostile  to  each 
other.  Ideas  are  the  great  warriors  of  the  world ; 
and  a  war  that  has  no  ideas  behind  it  is  simply 
brutality.  The  two  ideas  were  landed,  one  at 
Plymouth  Rock,  from  the  Mayflower,  and  the  other 
from  a  Dutch  brig  at  Jamestown ,  Virginia.  One  was 
the  old  doctrine  of  Luther,  that  private  judgment, 
in  politics  as  well  as  religion,  is  the  right  and  duty 
of  every  man ;  and  the  other,  that  capital  should 


402  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

own  labor,  that  the  negro  had  no  rights  of  man 
hood,  and  the  white  man  might  justly  buy,  own, 
and  sell  him  and  his  offspring  forever.  Thus  free 
dom  and  equality  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  the  slavery  of  one  race  and  the  domination  of 
another,  were  the  two  germs  planted  on  this  con 
tinent.  In  our  vast  expanse  of  wilderness,  for 
a  long  time,  there  was  room  for  both ;  and  their 
advocates  began  the  race  across  the  continent, 
each  developing  the  social  and  political  institutions 
of  their  choice.  Both  had  vast  interests  in  com 
mon  ;  and  for  a  long  time  neither  was  conscious 
of  the  fatal  antagonisms  that  were  developing. 

For  nearly  two  centuries  there  was  no  serious 
collision ;  but  when  the  continent  began  to  fill  up, 
and  the  people  began  to  jostle  against  each  other ; 
when  the  Eoundhead  and  the  Cavalier  came  near 
enough  to  measure  opinions,  the  irreconcilable 
character  of  the  two  doctrines  began  to  appear. 
Many  conscientious  men  studied  the  subject,  and 
came  to  the  belief  that  slavery  was  a  crime,  a  sin, 
or,  as  Wesley  said,  '  the  sum  of  all  villanies.' 
This  belief  dwelt  in  small  minorities  for  a  long 
time.  It  lived  in  the  churches  and  vestries,  but 
later  found  its  way  into  the  civil  and  political 
organizations  of  the  country,  and  finally  found  its 
way  into  this  chamber.  A  few  brave,  clear-sighted, 
far-seeing  men  announced  it  here,  a  little  more 
than  a  generation  ago.  A  predecessor  of  mine, 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  403 

Joshua  R.  Giddings,  following  the  lead  of  John 
Quincy  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  almost  alone 
held  up  the  banner  on  this  floor,  and  from  year  to 
year  comrades  came  to  his  side.  Through  evil 
and  through  good  report  he  pressed  the  question 
upon  the  conscience  of  the  nation,  and  bravely 
stood  in  his  place  in  this  House,  until  his  white 
locks,  like  the  plume  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  showed 
where  the  battle  of  freedom  raged  most  fiercely. 

And  so  the  contest  continued ;  the  supporters 
of  slavery  believing  honestly  and  sincerely  that 
slavery  was  a  divine  institution ;  that  it  found  its 
high  sanctions  in  the  living  oracles  of  God  and  in 
a  wise  political  philosophy ;  that  it  was  justified 
by  the  necessities  of  their  situation ;  and  that 
slave-holders  were  missionaries  to  the  dark  sons 
of  Africa,  to  elevate  and  bless  them.  We  are  so 
far  past  the  passions  of  that  early  time  that  we 
can  now  study  the  progress  of  the  struggle  as  a 
great  and  inevitable  development,  without  sharing 
in  the  crimination  and  recrimination  that  attended 
it.  If  both  sides  could  have  seen  that  it  was  a 
contest  beyond  their  control ;  if  both  parties  could 
have  realized  the  truth  that  "  unsettled  questions 
have  no  pity  for  the  repose  of  nations,"  much  less 
for  the  fate  of  political  parties,  the  bitterness,  the 
sorrow,  the  tears,  and  the  blood  might  have  been 
avoided.  But  we  walked  in  the  darkness,  our 
paths  obscured  by  the  smoke  of  the  conflict,  each 


404  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

following  his  own  convictions  through  ever-increas 
ing  fierceness,  until  the  debate  culminated  in  "  the 
last  argument  to  which  kings  resort." 

This  conflict  of  opinion  was  not  merely  one  of 
sentimental  feeling ;  it  involved  our  whole  politi 
cal  system ;  it  gave  rise  to  two  radically  different 
theories  of  the  nature  of  our  government ;  the 
North  believing  and  holding  that  we  were  a  nation, 
the  South  insisting  that  we  were  only  a  confedera 
tion  of  sovereign  States,  and  insisting  that  each 
State  had  the  right,  at  its  own  discretion,  to  break 
the  Union,  and  constantly  threatening  secession 
where  the  full  rights  of  slavery  were  not  acknowl 
edged. 

Thus  the  defence  and  aggrandizement  of  slavery, 
and  the  hatred  of  abolitionism,  became  not  only 
the  central  idea  of  the  Democratic  party,  but  its 
master  passion,  —  a  passion  intensified  and  in 
flamed  by  twenty-five  years  of  fierce  political  con 
test,  which  had  not  only  driven  from  its  ranks  all 
those  who  preferred  freedom  to  slavery,  but  had 
absorbed  all  the  extreme  pro-slavery  elements  of 
the  fallen  Whig  party.  Over  against  this  was 
arrayed  the  Eepublican  party,  asserting  the  broad 
doctrines  of  nationality  and  loyalty,  insisting  that 
no  State  had  a  right  to  secede,  that  secession  was 
treason,  and  demanding  that  the  institution  of 
slavery  should  be  restricted  to  the  limits  of  the 
States  where  it  already  existed.  But  here  and 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  405 

there  many  bolder  and  more  radical  thinkers  de 
clared,  with  Wendell  Phillips,  that  there  never 
could  be  union  and  peace,  freedom  and  prosperity, 
until  we  were  willing  to  see  John  Hancock  under 
a  black  skin. 

Mr.  Chairman,  ought  the  Republican  party  to 
surrender  its  truncheon  of  command  to  the  Democ 
racy?  The  gentleman  from  Mississippi  says,  if 
this  were  England,  the  ministry  would  go  out  in 
twenty-four  hours  with  such  a  state  of  things  as  we 
have  here.  Ah,  yes  !  that  is  an  ordinary  case  of 
change  of  administration.  But  if  this  were  Eng 
land,  what  would  she  have  done  at  the  end  of  the 
war?  England  made  one  such  mistake  as  the 
gentleman  asks  this  country  to  make,  when  she 
threw  away  the  achievements  of  the  grandest  man 
that  ever  trod  her  highway  of  power.  Oliver 
Cromwell  had  overturned  the  throne  of  despotic 
power,  and  had  lifted  his  country  to  a  place  of 
masterful  greatness  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ; 
and  when,  after  his  death,  his  great  sceptre  was 
transferred  to  a  weak  though  not  unlineal  hand,  his 
country,  in  a  moment  of  reactionary  blindness, 
brought  back  the  Stuarts.  England  did  not  re 
cover  from  that  folly  until,  in  1()89,  the  Prince  of 
Orange  drove  from  her  island  the  last  of  that  weak 
and  wicked  line.  Did  she  afterward  repeat  the 
blunder  ? 


406  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

I  am  aware  that  there  is  a  general  disposition 
"to  let  by-gones  be  by-gones,"  and  to  judge  of 
parties  and  of  men,  not  by  what  they  have  been, 
but  by  what  they  are  and  what  they  propose. 

That  view  is  partly  just  and  partly  erroneous. 
It  is  just  and  wise  to  bury  resentments  and  an 
imosities.  It  is  erroneous  in  this,  that  parties  have 
an  organic  life  and  spirit  of  their  own  —  an  individ 
uality  and  character  which  outlive  the  men  who 
compose  them ;  and  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  a 
party  should  be  considered  in  determining  their 
fitness  for  managing  the  affairs  of  a  nation. 

I  will  close  by  calling  your  attention  again  to 
the  great  problem  before  us.  Over  this  vast  hori 
zon  of  interests  North  and  South,  above  all  party 
prejudices  and  personal  wrong-doing,  above  our 
battle  hosts  and  our  victorious  cause,  above  all 
that  we  hoped  for  and  won,  or  you  hoped  for  and 
lost,  is  the  grand,  onward  movement  of  the  Re 
public  to  perpetuate  its  glory,  to  save  liberty  alive, 
to  preserve  exact  and  equal  justice  to  all,  to  pro 
tect  and  foster  all  these  priceless  principles,  until 
they  shall  have  crystalized  into  the  form  of  endur 
ing  law,  and  become  inwrought  into  the  life  and 
the  habits  of  our  people. 

And,  until  these  great  results  are  accomplished, 
it  is  not  safe  to  take  one  step  backward.  It  is  still 
more  unsafe  to  trust  interests  of  such  measureless 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  407 

value  in  the  hands  of  an  organization  whose  mem 
bers  have  never  comprehended  their  epoch,  have 
never  been  in  sympathy  with  its  great  movements, 
who  have  resisted  every  step  of  its  progress,  and 
whose  principal  function  has  been 

"  '  To  lie  in  cold  obstruction ' 
across  the  pathway  of  the  nation. 

"  No,  no,  gentlemen,  our  enlightened  and  pa 
triotic  people  will  not  follow  such  leaders  in  the 
rearward  march.  Their  myriad  faces  are  turned 
the  other  way ;  and  along  their  serried  lines  still 
rings  the  cheering  cry,  '  Forward !  till  our  great 
work  is  fully  and  worthily  accomplished.' " 

[From  a  Speech  in  Congress,  1866.] 

Duties  should  be  so  high  that  our  manufacturers 
can  fairly  compete  with  the  foreign  product,  but 
not  so  high  as  to  enable  them  to  drive  out  the  for 
eign  article,  enjoy  a  monopoly  of  the  trade,  and 
regulate  the  price  as  they  please.  This  is  my  doc 
trine  of  protection.  ...  I  am  for  a  protection  that 
leads  to  ultimate  free  trade.  I  am  for  that  free 
trade  which  can  only  be  achieved  through  a  reason 
able  protection. 

[Letter  to  A.  B.  Hinsdale.] 

WASHINGTON,  January  1,  1867. 

I  am  less  satisfied  with  the  present  aspect  of  pub 
lic  affairs  than  I  have  been  for  a  long  time.  .  .  . 


408  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Really  there  seems  to  be  a  fear  on  the  part  of  many 
of  our  friends  that  they  may  do  some  absurdly 
extravagant  thing  to  prove  their  radicalism.  I  am 
trying  to  do  two  things  :  dare  to  be  a  radical  and 
not  be  a  fool,  which,  if  I  may  judge  by  the  exhibi 
tions  around  me,  is  a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty. 
.  .  .  My  own  course  is  chosen,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  it  will  throw  me  out  of  public  life. 

We  provide  for  the  common  defence  by  a  system 
which  promotes  the  general  welfare. 

[From  an  Address  at  Hiram  College,  June  14,  1867.] 

It  is  to  me  a  perpetual  wonder  how  any  child's 
love  of  knowledge  survives  the  outrages  of  the 
school-house.  I,  for  one,  declare  that  no  child  of 
mine  shall  ever  be  compelled  to  study  one  hour,  or 
to  learn  even  the  English  alphabet,  before  he  has 
deposited  under  his  skin  at  least  seven  years  of 
muscle  and  bone. 

[From  the  Same.] 

The  student  should  study  himself,  his  relations 
to  society,  to  nature,  and  to  art,  and  above  all,  in 
all,  and  through  all  these,  he  should  study  the  rela 
tions  of  himself,  society,  nature,  and  art,  to  God, 
the  Author  of  them  all. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  409 

[From  the  Same.] 

It  is  well  to  know  the  history  of  those  magnifi 
cent  nations  whose  origin  is  lost  in  fable,  and 
whose  epitaphs  were  written  a  thousand  years  ago 
—  but  if  we  cannot  know  both,  it  is  far  better  to 
study  the  history  of  our  own  nation,  whose  origin 
we  can  trace  to  the  freest  and  noblest  aspirations 
of  the  human  heart  —  a  nation  that  was  formed 
from  the  hardiest,  purest,  and  most  enduring  ele 
ments  of  European  civilization  —  a  nation  that,  by 
its  faith  and  courage,  has  dared  and  accomplished 
more  for  the  human  race  in  a  single  century  than 
Europe  accomplished  in  the  first  thousand  years 
of  the  Christian  era.  The  New  England  township 
was  the  type  after  which  our  Federal  Government 
was  modelled  ;  yet  it  would  be  rare  to  find  a  col 
lege  student  who  can  make  a  comprehensive  and 
intelligible  statement  of  the  municipal  organization 
of  the  township  in  which  he  was  born,  and  tell  you 
by  what  officers  its  legislative,  judicial,  and  execu 
tive  functions  were  administered.  One  half  of 
the  time  which  is  now  almost  wasted,  in  district 
schools,  on  English  Grammar,  attempted  at  too 
early  an  age,  would  be  sufficient  to  teach  our  chil 
dren  to  love  the  Republic,  and  to  become  its  loyal 
and  life-long  supporters.  After  the  bloody  bap 
tism  from  which  the  nation  has  arisen  to  a  higher 
and  nobler  life,  if  this  shameful  defect  in  our  sys- 


410  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

tern  of  education  be  not  speedily  remedied,  we 
shall  deserve  the  infinite  contempt  of  future  gene 
rations.  I  insist  that  it  should  be  made  an  indis 
pensable  condition  of  graduation  in  every  American 
college,  that  the  student  must  understand  the  his 
tory  of  this  continent  since  its  discovery  by  Euro 
peans,  the  origin  and  history  of  the  United  States, 
its  constitution  of  government,  the  struggles  through 
which  it  has  passed,  and  the  rights  and  duties  of 
citizens  who  are  to  determine  its  destiny  and  share 
its  glory. 

Having  thus  gained  the  knowledge  which  is 
necessary  to  life,  health,  industry,  and  citizenship, 
the  student  is  prepared  to  enter  a  wider  and  grand 
er  field  of  thought.  If  he  desires  that  large  and 
liberal  culture,  which  will  call  into  activity  all  his 
powers,  and  make  the  most  of  the  material  God 
has  given  him,  he  must  study  deeply  and  earnestly 
the  intellectual,  the  moral,  the  religious,  and  the 
aesthetic  nature  of  man ;  his  relations  to  nature,  to 
civilization,  past  and  present,  and  above  all,  his 
relations  to  God.  These  should  occupy  nearly,  if 
not  fully,  half  the  time  of  his  college  course.  In 
connection  with  the  philosophy  of  the  mind,  he 
should  study  logic,  the  pure  mathematics,  and  the 
general  laws  of  thought.  In  connection  with  moral 
philosophy,  he  should  study  political  and  social 
ethics  —  a  science  so  little  known  either  in  colleges 
or  congresses.  Prominent  among  all  the  rest 


JAMES    A.    GAREIELD.  411 

should  be  his  study  of  the  wonderful  history  of  the 
human  race,  in  its  slow  and  toilsome  march  across 
the  centuries  —  now  buried  in  ignorance,  supersti 
tion  and  crime ;  now  rising  to  the  sublimity  of 
heroism  and  catching  a  glimpse  of  a  better  destiny ; 
now  turning  remorselessly  away  from,  and  leaving 
to  perish,  empires  and  civilizations  in  which  it  had 
invested  its  faith,  and  courage,  and  boundless  en 
ergy  for  a  thousand  years,  and  plunging  into  the 
forests  of  Germany,  Gaul,  and  Britain,  to  build  for 
itself  new  empires,  better  fitted  for  its  new  aspira 
tions  ;  and,  at  last,  crossing  three  thousand  miles 
of  unknown  sea,  and  building  in  the  wilderness  of 
a  new  hemisphere  its  latest  and  proudest  monu 
ments. 


[Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  12, 1867.J 

I  cannot  forget  that  we  have  learned  slowly. 
...  I  cannot  forget  that  less  than  five  years  ago 
I  received  an  order  from  my  superior  officer  com 
manding  me  to  search  my  camp  for  a  fugitive 
slave,  and  if  found,  to  deliver  him  up  to  a  Ken 
tucky  captain  who  claimed  him  as  his  property; 
and  /  had  the  honor  to  be  perhaps  the  first  officer 
in  the  army  who  peremptorily  refused  to  obey  such, 
an  order.  We  were  then  trying  to  save  the  Union 
without  hurting  slavery.  ...  It  took  us  two  years 
to  reach  a  point  where  we  were  willing  to  do  the 


412  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

most  meagre  justice  to  the  black  man,  and  to  rec 
ognize  the  truth  that 

o 

"  A  man's  a  man  for  a'  that! " 

Sir,  the  hand  of  God  has  been  visible  in  this 
work,  leading  us  by  degrees  out  of  the  blindness 
of  our  prejudices,  to  see  that  the  fortunes  of  the 
Republic  and  the  safety  of  the  party  of  liberty  are 
inseparably  bound  up  with  the  rights  of  the  black 
man.  At  last  our  party  must  see  that  if  it  would 
preserve  its  political  life,  or  maintain  the  safety  of 
the  Republic,  we  must  do  justice  to  the  humblest 
man  in  the  Nation,  whether  black  or  white.  I 
thank  God  that  to-day  we  have  struck  the  rock ; 
we  have  planted  our  feet  upon  solid  earth.  Streams 
of  light  will  gleam  out  from  the  luminous  truth 
embodied  in  the  legislation  of  this  day.  This  is 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  reconstruction,  and  I  hope  we 
shall  have  the  courage  to  go  before  our  people 
everywhere  with  "  This  or  nothing"  for  our  motto. 

Now,  sir,  as  a  temporary  measure,  I  give  my 
support  to  this  military  bill  properly  restricted. 
It  is  severe.  It  was  written  with  a  steel  pen  made 
out  of  a  bayonet ;  and  bayonets  have  done  us 
good  service  hitherto.  All  I  ask  is  that  Congress 
shall  place  civil  governments  before  these  people 
of  the  rebel  States,  and  a  cordon  of  bayonets 
behind  them. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  413 

Now,  what  does  this  bill  propose  ?  It  lays  the 
hands  of  the  Nation  upon  the  rebel  State  govern 
ments,  and  takes  the  breath  of  life  out  of  them. 
It  puts  the  bayonet  at  the  breast  of  every  rebel 
murderer  in  the  South  to  bring  him  to  justice.  It 
commands  the  army  to  protect  the  life  and  prop 
erty  of  citizens  whether  black  or  white.  It  places 
in  the  hands  of  Congress  absolutely  and  irrevo 
cably  the  whole  work  of  reconstruction. 

With  this  thunderbolt  in  our  hands  shall  we 
stagger  like  idiots  under  its  weight?  Have  we 
grasped  a  weapon  which  we  have  neither  the 
courage  nor  the  wisdom  to  wield  ? 

WILLIAM    H.    SEWARD.* 

When  in  Europe  in  1867,  my  attention  was 
particularly  drawn  to  the  significant  fact  that  the 
pictures  of  Lincoln  and  Sevvard  were  the  only  por 
traits  of  American  statesmen  that  were  notably 
prominent,  and  that  these  were  everywhere  seen 
together.  I  asked  a  Frenchman  of  distinction  why 

*  "Another  talk  that  I  recall  was  at  a  social  gathering.  It 
was  at  a  dinner-party,  after  the  failure  of  Greeley's  cam 
paign.  The  host  was,  perhaps,  the  most  original  genius  in 
Washington.  He  was  an  old  companion  of  Greeley  at 
Brook  Farm.  He  was  giving  the  dinner  in  payment  of  a 
bet  he  had  lost  by  reason  of  Greeley 's  defeat.  The  conver 
sation  embraced  all  the  topics  of  the  day,  and,  in  the  course 
of  it,  turned  to  Seward.  A  member  of  the  company 
thought  that  Seward  had  been  dead  years  before  he  was  put 


414  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Seward  was  held  in  such  high  estimation ;  and  his 
answer  most  seriously  impressed  me  with  the 
thought  that  perhaps,  after  all  the  slanders  of  his 
detractors,  Mr.  Seward  had  builded  for  the  future 
more  wisely  than  we  knew.  This  gentleman  said  : 
"  Mr.  Seward  is  the  American  statesman  who  looms 
up  the  most  prominently  from  over  the  water. 
His  diplomacy  in  Mexico  has  placed  the  imprint  of 
greatness  upon  his  name.  Halting  for  a  moment 
in  the  midst  of  the  turmoil  of  the  civil  war,  with 
his  pen  he  dismembered  the  coalition  organized  to 
place  Maximilian  upon  the  Mexican  throne,  and 
thus  placed  the  first  mine  under  the  throne  of  the 
Third  Bonaparte.  He  has  undertaken  what  the 
combined  powers  of  Europe  have  not  ventured  to 
essay  —  to  break  the  sceptre  of  the  Second  Em 
pire."  The  views  entertained  by  this  distinguished 
Frenchman  seem  also  to  have  been  held  in  Mexico, 
for  upon  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Seward, 
the  press  of  that  country  all  made  the  most  grate 
ful  mention  of  his  services  in  that  regard. 

into  the  grave.  General  Garfield  thought  differently,  and 
delivered,  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  a  remarkable  eulogy 
on  the  dead  statesman.  Soon  afterward,  I  reduced  to  notes 
the  outlines  of  that  eulogy,  so  far  as  my  memory  served 
me,  and  I  reproduce  it  here.  General  Garfield  possesses 
rare  conversational  powers,  and  uses,  in  social  discourse,  a 
diction  not  less  eloquent  and  elegant  than  that  to  which  he 
is  accustomed  in  the  forum."  —  Washington  Correspondent 
of  the  Chicago  Tribune. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  415 

The  enthusiasm  of  this  Frenchman,  continued 
General  Garfield,  had  not  perished  from  my 
memory  later  when  public  duties  called  me  to  the 
State  Department.  The  Alaska  treaty  had  just 
been  signed.  I  found  the  Sage  of  Auburn  alone, 
in  the  thoughtful  mood  so  common  to  him  when 
meditating  upon  great  subjects.  Our  conversation 
fell  upon  himself,  and  I  found  that  he  had  been 
meditating  upon  his  withdraw!  from  public  life. 
He  had  been  eight  years  in  the  second  highest 
place  in  this  Nation.  He  had  almost  had  the 
Presidency  within  his  grasp ;  but  the  displeasure 
of  his  party  had  fallen  upon  him,  and  he  was  about 
to  retire  from  the  political  arena.  He  told  me  that 
power  was  sweet  to  him  ;  that  he  clung  even  then 
fondly  to  its  shadow ;  and  that  he  relinquished  his 
sceptre  with  regret.  His  exact  language,  in  speak 
ing  of  his  past  career  was  :  w  It  is  unpleasant  to 
yield  up  power."  The  conversation  turned  upon 
Alaska.  The  Secretary  fell  into  the  dream-like 
attitude  that  was  never  seen  except  by  those  who 
were  familiar  with  him,  and  commenced  to  explain 
his  theory  of  the  Alaska  purchase  in  forcible,  pro 
phetic,  almost  pathetic  words  which  I  never  shall 
forget.  I  left  the  room  then  with  grander  ideas 
of  the  man  than  I  had  ever  entertained  before.  His 
conversation  indicated  that  he  had  been  following 
a  particular  course  of  study,  for  he  remarked  that, 
to  his  notion,  the  two  greatest  books  of  the  century 


41(3  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

were  Marsh's  "  Man  in  Nature,"  and  the  Duke  of 
Argyll's  "  Beign  of  Law."  The  application  of  Ar 
gyll's  theory  of  law  as  applied  to  political  develop 
ment,  Mr.  Seward  had  evidently  studied  with  much 
care.  He  had  been  reasoning  upon  natural  laws 
as  they  affect  a  nation.  He  had  been  speculating 
upon  the  elementary  forces  of  a  nation's  grandeur, 
and  upon  the  contrivance  in  combining  them  to 
make  them  operate  in  a  direction  desired.  This 
theory  was  founded  upon  the  possibility  of  tracing 
these  forces  in  history,  and  of  discovering  the 
operation  of  these  laws  under  conditions  which  had 
actually  determined  the  course  of  mankind  and 
nations  in  definite  directions.  The  text  of  his 
theory  was  the  history  of  the  world's  seas.  History 
had  taught  him  that  the  grandest  achievements  of 
man  had  been  associated  with  the  shores  of  the 
world's  seas.  To  go  back  no  further  than  the  be 
ginning  of  the  Christian  era,  the  most  sacred, 
solemn  story  of  the  hopes  of  man  had  been  written 
in  wanderings  on  the  banks  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 
With  the  progress  of  Christian  civilization,  thus 
sea-born,  the  advancing  tide  of  human  progress 
was  staid  by  the  banks  of  the  Mediterranean*  It 
was  along  the  borders  of  this  sea  that  the  Byzantine 
Empire  flourished  and  was  destroyed  ;  that  Rome 
attained  her  supremacy,  and  fell.  With  the  pro 
gress  of  time,  and  the  advance  of  civilization  west 
ward,  the  Atlantic  took  the  place  of  the  Galilean 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  417 

Sea  and  of  the  Mediterranean.  It  is  the  sea  of  the 
present.  But  unless  the  laws  of  political  geogra 
phy  are  false,  the  contests  of  the  future  are  to  be 
around  the  shores  of  the  "  still  sea,"  now  our  own 
Pacific.  The  nation  of  the  future  is  the  nation  that 
holds  the  key  of  those  waters.  The  purchase  of 
Alaska  has  given  our  Republic  a  foothold  on  both 
sides  of  that  sea.  It  is  a  geographical  impossibil 
ity  that  any  other  nation  can  occupy  a  position  in 
its  own  territory  upon  both  sides  of  the  Pacific. 
This  is  the  theory  of  the  purchase.  It  secures  the 
control  of  the  Pacific  to  the  young  Republic.  It 
assures  the  future  of  the  world's  dominion  to 
Yankee  civilization.  This  was  the  theory. 

And  his  outlook,  said  General  Garfield,  with  en 
thusiasm,  was  grand.  In  his  political  horoscope, 
he  saw  the  Republic  enjoying  a  prosperity  of  which 
the  annals  of  human  affairs  had  furnished  no  ex 
ample  ;  he  saw  our  country  rising  to  the  place  of 
umpire  among  the  world's  powers ;  he  saw  how, 
by  wise  statesmanship,  our  material  prosperity  and 
peaceful  conquests  grew  together;  how  our  in 
creasing  commerce  made  us  mistress  of  the  seas  ; 
how  Western  civilization  and  Oriental  decrepitude 
were  staid  upon  the  borders  of  that  Pacific  sea,  and 
compelled  to  render  homage  to  Young  America, 
who  had  become  the  keeper  of  the  world's  keys. 

These  were  the  grand  thoughts  of  Mr.  Seward 
as  he  was  about  to  relinquish  the  mantle  of  his 

27 


418  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

power,  and,  continued  General  Garfield,  his  views 
have  left  a  lasting  impression  upon  me.  Mr. 
Seward  could  not  have  died  more  successfully  than 
he  did.  He  passed  away  in  the  lull  between  two 
elections,  and  received  the  merited  eulogiums  of 
both  parties.  He  bore  success  followed  by  failure 
better  than  any  American  I  know.  He  was  for 
nearly  a  decade  next  to  the  source  of  power,  and 
missed  the  place  which  was  the  goal  of  his  later 
years,  retiring  from  public  life  suffering  the  dis 
pleasure  of  his  party.  But  he  quietly  retired  to 
private  life,  and  never  lost  his  genial  spirit  or  his 
noble  ways. 

[This  report  of  the  conversation  is  indorsed  by 
General  Garfield  as  "  in  the  main  correct." 

J.  C.] 

[Speech  on  the  Currency  Question,  1868.] 

Asa  medium  of  exchange,  money  is  to  all  busi 
ness  transactions  what  ships  are  to  the  transporta 
tion  of  merchandise.  If  a  hundred  vessels,  of  a 
given  tonnage,  are  just  sufficient  to  carry  all  the 
commodities  between  two  ports,  any  increase  of 
the  number  of  vessels  will  correspondingly  decrease 
the  value  of  each  as  an  instrument  of  commerce ; 
any  decrease  below  one  hundred  will  correspond 
ingly  increase  the  value  of  each.  If  the  number 
be  doubled,  each  will  carry  but  half  its  usual  freight, 
will  be  worth  but  half  its  former  value  for  that 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  419 

trade.  There  is  so  much  work  to  be  done,  and  no 
more.  A  hundred  vessels  can  do  it  all.  A  thou 
sand  can  do  no  more  than  all. 

When  the  money  of  the  country  is  gold  and  sil 
ver,  it  adapts  itself  to  the  fluctuations  of  business 
without  the  aid  of  legislation.  If  at  any  time  we 
have  more  than  is  needed,  the  surplus  flows  off  to 
other  countries  through  the  channels  of  interna 
tional  commerce.  If  less,  the  deficiency  is  sup 
plied  through  the  same  channels.  Thus  the  mone 
tary  equilibrium  is  maintained.  So  immense  is 
the  trade  of  the  world,  that  the  golden  streams 
pouring  from  California  and  Australia  into  the 
specie  circulation  are  soon  absorbed  in  the  great 
mass,  and  equalized  throughout  the  world,  as  the 
waters  of  all  the  rivers  are  spread  upon  the  surface 
of  all  the  seas. 

Not  so,  however,  with  an  inconvertible  paper 
currency.  Excepting  the  specie  used  in  payment 
of  customs  and  the  interest  on  our  public  debt,  we 
are  cut  off  from  the  money  currents  of  the  world. 
Our  currency  resembles  rather  the  waters  of  an 
artificial  lake,  which  lie  in  stagnation  or  rise  to  full 
banks  at  the  caprice  of  the  gate-keeper. 

[A  Speech  on  Currency  and  the  Banks,  1870.] 

The  business  of  the  country  is  like  the  level  of 
the  ocean,  from  which  all  measurements  are  made 


420  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

of  heights  and  depths.  Though  tides  and  currents 
may  for  a  time  disturb,  and  tempests  vex  and  toss 
its  surface,  still  through  calm  and  storm  the  grand 
level  rules  all  its  waves  and  lays  its  measuring- 
lines  on  every  shore.  So  the  business  of  the  coun 
try,  which,  in  the  aggregated  demands  of  the  peo 
ple  for  the  exchange  of  values,  marks  the  ebb  and 
flow,  the  rise  and  fall  of  the  currents  of  trade,  and 
forms  the  base-line  from  which  to  measure  all  our 
financial  legislation,  and  is  the  only  safe  rule  by 
which  the  volume  of  our  currency  can  be  deter 
mined. 


The  State  bank  system  was  a  chaos  of  ruin,  in 
which  the  business  of  the  country  was  again  and 
again  ingulfed.  The  people  rejoice  that  it  has 
been  swept  away,  and  they  will  not  consent  to  its 
re-establishment.  In  its  place  we  have  the  Na 
tional-bank  system,  based  on  the  bonds  of  the 
United  States,  and  sharing  the  safety  and  credit 
of  the  government.  Their  notes  are  made  secure, 
first,  by  a  deposit  of  government  bonds,  worth  at 
least  ten  per  cent,  more  than  the  whole  value  of 
the  notes ;  second,  by  a  paramount  lien  on  all  the 
assets  of  the  banks ;  third,  the  personal  liability 
of  all  the  shareholders  to  an  amount  equal  to  the 
capital  they  hold;  and,  fourth,  the  absolute  guar 
antee  by  the  government  to  redeem  them  at  the 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  421 

National  Treasury  if  the  banks  fail  to  do  so.  In 
stead  of  seven  thousand  different  varieties  of  notes, 
as  in  the  State  system,  we  have  now  but  ten  varie 
ties,  each  uniform  in  character  and  appearance. 
Like  our  flag,  they  bear  the  stamp  of  nationality, 
and  are  honored  in  every  part  of  the  Union. 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  House,  April  1,  1870.] 

As  an  abstract  theory  of  political  economy  free- 
trade  has  many  advocates,  and  much  can  be  said 
in  its  favor ;  nor  will  it  be  denied  that  the  scholar 
ship  of  modern  times  is  largely  on  that  side  ;  that 
a  large  majority  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the  pres 
ent  day  are  leading  in  the  direction  of  what  is 
called  free-trade. 

While  this  is  true,  it  is  equally  undeniable  that 
the  principle  of  protection  has  always  been  recog 
nized  and  adopted  in  some  form  or  another  by  all 
nations,  and  is  to-day,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
the  policy  of  every  civilized  government 

Protection,  in  its  practical  meaning,  is  that  pro 
vident  care  for  the  industry  and  development  of 
our  own  country  which  will  give  our  own  people 
an  equal  chance  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  and  save 
us  from  the  calamity  of  being  dependent  upon 
other  nations  with  whom  we  may  any  day  be  at 
war. 

In  so  far  as  the  doctrine  of  free-trade  is  a  pro- 


422  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

test  against  the  old  system  of  oppression  and  pro 
hibition,  it  is  a  healthy  and  worthy  sentiment. 
But  underlying  all  theories,  there  is  a  strong  and 
deep  conviction  in  the  minds  of  a  great  majority 
of  our  people  in  favor  of  protecting  American  in 
dustry 


[Speech  on  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution, 
April  4,  1871.] 

Nothing  more  aptly  describes  the  char 
acter  of  our  Republic  than  the  solar  system, 
launched  into  space  by  the  hand  of  the  Creator, 
where  the  central  sun  is  the  great  power  around 
which  revolve  all  the  planets  in  their  appointed 
orbits.  But  while  the  sun  holds  in  the  grasp  of 
its  attractive  power  the  whole  system,  and  imparts 
its  light  and  heat  to  all,  yet  each  individual  planet 
is  under  the  sway  of  laws  peculiar  to  itself. 

Under  the  sway  of  terrestrial  laws,  winds  blow, 
waters  flow,  and  all  the  tenantries  of  the  planet 
live  and  move.  So,  sir,  the  States  move  on  in 
their  orbits  of  duty  and  obedience,  bound  to  the 
central  government  by  this  Constitution,  which  is 
their  supreme  law ;  while  each  State  is  making 
laws  and  regulations  of  its  own,  developing  its 
own  energies,  maintaining  its  own  industries, 
managing  its  local  affairs  in  its  own  way,  subject 
only  to  the  supreme  but  beneficent  control  of  the 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  423 

Union.  When  State-rights  ran  mad,  put  on  the 
form  of  secession,  and  attempted  to  drag  the  States 
out  of  the  Union,  we  saw  the  grand  lesson,  taught 
in  all  the  battles  of  the  late  war,  that  a  State  could 
no  more  be  hurled  from  the  Union,  without  ruin 
to  the  nation,  than  could  a  planet  be  thrown  from 
its  orbit  without  dragging  after  it,  to  chaos  and 
ruin,  the  whole  solar  universe. 

In  1865  we  had  a  debt  of  two  billions  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-two  millions  of  dollars  upon 
our  hands,  the  debt  accumulated  from  the  great 
results  of  the  war ;  we  were  compelled  to  pay 
from  that  debt  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  millions 
of  dollars  in  coin  a  year  as  interest,  and  that  was  a 
dreadful  annual  burden.  In  the  year  after  the 
war  ended,  we  paid  five  hundred  and  ninety  mil 
lions  of  dollars  over  our  counter  in  settling  the 
business  of  the  war  and  maintaining  the  ordinary 
expenses  of  the  government.  These  tremendous 
burdens  it  seemed  for  a  time  we  could  not  carry, 
and  there  were  wicked  men,  and  despairing  men, 
and  men  who  said  we  ought  not  to  try  to  carry  the 
burdens  ;  but  the  brave  nation  said,  This  burden  is 
the  price  of  our  country's  life,  all  through  it  there 
is  the  price  of  blood  and  the  price  of  liberty,  and, 
therefore,  we  will  bow  our  knees  to  the  burden, 
we  will  carry  it  upon  the  stalwart  shoulders  of  the 
nation. 


424  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES   OP 

[Letter  to  Professor  Demmon,  December  16,  1871.] 

Since  I  entered  public  life,  I  have  con 


stantly  aimed  to  find  a  little  time  to  keep  alive  the 
spirit  of  my  classical  studies,  and  to  resist  that 
constant  tendency,  which  all  public  men  feel,  to 
grow  rusty  in  literary  studies,  and  particularly  in 
the  classical  studies.  I  have  thought  it  better  to 
select  some  one  line  of  classical  reading,  and,  if 
possible,  do  a  little  work  on  it  each  day.  For 
this  winter  I  am  determined  to  review  such  parts 
of  the  Odes  of  Horace  as  I  may  be  able  to  reach. 
And,  as  preliminary  to  that  work,  I  have  begun 
by  reading  up  the  bibliography  of  Horace. 

The  Congressional  Library  is  very  rich  in  ma 
terials  for  this  study,  and  I  am  amazed  to  find  how 
deep  and  universal  has  been  the  impress  left  on 
the  cultivated  mind  of  the  world  by  Horace's 
writings. 


o 


The  Student  should  study  himself,  his  relation 
to  Society,  to  Nature  and  to  Art  —  and  above  all, 
in  all,  and  through  all  these,  he  should  study  the 
relations  of  Himself,  Society,  Nature,  and  Art  to 
God  the  Author  of  them  all. 

Greek  is  perhaps  the  most  perfect  instrument 
of  Thought  ever  invented  by  Man,  and  its  Litera- 


JAMES   A.    GAUFIELD.  425 

tare  has  never  been  equalled  in  purity  of  style  and 
boldness  of  expression. 


History  is  but  the  unrolled  scroll  of  Prophecy. 
The  world's  history  is  a  divine  Poem,  of  which  the 
history  of  every  nation  is  a  canto,  and  every  man 
a  word.  Its  strains  have  been  pealing  along  down 
the  centuries,  and  though  there  have  been  mingled 
the  discords  of  warring  cannon  and  dying  men, 
yet  to  the  Christian,  Philosopher,  and  Historian  — 
the  humble  listener  —  there  has  been  a  divine 
melody  running  through  the  song  which  speaks 
of  hope  and  halcyon  days  to  come. 

The  lesson  of  History  is  rarely  learned  by  the 
actors  themselves. 


Theologians  in  all  ages  have  looked  out  admir 
ingly  upon  the  material  universe,  and  from  its 
inanimate  existences  demonstrated  the  Power, 
Wisdom,  and  Goodness  of  God ;  but  we  know  of 
no  one  who  has  demonstrated  the  same  attributes 
from  the  History  of  the  human  race. 

Mankind  have  been  slow  to  believe  that  order 
reigns  in  the  universe,  that  the  world  is  a  Cosmos, 
not  a  chaos. 


426  LITE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  assertion  of  the  reign  of  Law  has  been 
stubbornly  resisted  at  every  step.  The  divinities 
of  Heathen  superstition  still  linger  in  one  form  or 
another  in  the  faith  of  the  ignorant,  and  even 
many  intelligent  men  shrink  from  the  contem 
plation  of  one  Supreme  Will  acting  regularly,  not 
fatuitously,  through  laws  beautiful  and  simple, 
rather  than  through  a  fitful  and  capricious  Provi 
dence. 

English  liberty  to-day  rests  not  so  much  on  the 
government  as  on  those  rights  which  the  people 
have  wrested  from  the  government.  The  rights 
of  the  Englishman  outnumber  the  rights  of  the 
Englishman's  king. 

Poetry  is  the  language  of  Freedom. 

Liberty  can  be  safe  only  when  Suffrage  is  illu 
minated  by  education. 

[Speech  on  the  last  Census.] 

The  developments  of  statistics  are  causing  his 
tory  to  be  re-written.  Till  recently  the  historian 
studied  nature  in  the  aggregate,  and  gave  us  only 
the  story  of  princes,  dynasties,  sieges,  and  battles. 
Of  the  people  themselves  —  the  great  social  body, 
with  life,  growth,  forces,  elements,  etc. — he  told 
us  nothing.  Now,  statistical  inquiry  leads  us  into 
the  hovels,  houses,  workshops,  mines,  fields,  pris- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  427 

ons,  hospitals,  and  all  places  where  human  nature 
displays  its  weakness  and  strength.  In  these 
explorations  he  discovers  the  seeds  of  national 
growth  and  decay,  and  thus  becomes  the  prophet 
of  his  generation. 

Statistical  science  is  indispensable  to  modern 
statesmanship.  In  legislation,  as  in  physical  sci 
ence,  it  is  beginning  to  be  understood  that  we  can 
control  terrestrial  forces  only  by  obeying  their 
laws.  The  legislator  must  formulate  in  his  statis 
tics  not  only  the  national  will  but  also  those  great 
laws  of  social  life  revealed  by  statistics.  He  must 
study  society  rather  than  black-letter  learning. 
He  must  learn  the  truth  that  "  society  usually  pre 
pares  the  crime,  and  the  criminal  is  only  the  in 
strument  that  completes  it,"  that  statesmanship 
consists  rather  in  removing  causes  than  in  pun 
ishing,  or  evading  results. 

[Speech  on  National  Aid  to  Education,  February  6,  1872.] 

We  look  sometimes  with  great  admiration  at  a 
government  like  Germany,  that  can  command  the 
light  of  its  education  to  shine  everywhere,  that  can 
enforce  its  school  laws  everywhere  throughout  the 
Empire.  Under  our  system  we  do  not  rejoice  in 
that,  but  we  rather  rejoice  that  here  two  forces 
play  with  all  their  vast  power  upon  our  system  of 
education.  The  first  is  that  of  the  local  municipal 
power  under  our  State  government.  There  is  the 


428  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

centre  of  responsibility.     There  is  the  chief  edu 
cational  power 

But  there  is  another  force  even  greater  than  that 
of  the  State  and  the  local  governments.  It  is  the 
force  of  private  voluntary  enterprise,  that  force 
which  has  built  up  the  multitude  of  private  schools, 
academies,  and  colleges  throughout  the  United 
States,  not  always  wisely,  but  always  with  enthu 
siasm  and  wonderful  energy. 

I  am  considering  what  is  the  best  system  of 
organizing  the  educational  work  of  a  nation,  not 
from  the  political  stand-point  alone,  but  from  the 
stand-point  of  the  school-house  itself.  This  work 
of  public  education  partakes  in  a  peculiar  way  of 
the  spirit  of  the  human  mind  in  its  efforts  for 
culture.  The  mind  must  be  as  free  from  extra 
neous  control  as  possible ;  must  work  under  the 
inspiration  of  its  own  desires  for  knowledge ; 
and  while  instructors  and  books  are  necessary 
helps,  the  fullest  and  highest  success  must  spring 
from  the  power  of  self-help. 

So  the  best  system  of  education  is  that  which 
draws  its  chief  support  from  the  voluntary  effort 
of  the  community,  from  the  individual  effort  of 
citizens,  and  from  those  burdens  of  taxation  which 
they  voluntarily  impose  upon  themselves.  .  .  . 
Government  shall  be  only  a  help  to  them,  rather 
than  a  commander,  in  the  work  of  education. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  429 

I  would  rather  be  beaten  in  Right  than  succeed 
in  Wrong. 

Present  evils  always  seem  greater  than  those 
that  never  come. 

Poverty  is  uncomfortable,  as  I  can  testify ;  but 
nine  times  out  of  ten  the  best  thing  that  can  hap 
pen  to  a  young  man  is  to  be  tossed  overboard  and 
compelled  to  sink  or  swim  for  himself.  In  all  my 
acquaintance  I  never  knew  a  man  to  be  drowned 
who  was  worth  the  saving. 

For  the  noblest  man  that  lives  there  still  re 
mains  a  conflict. 

No  man  can  make  a  speech  alone.  It  is  the 
great  human  power  that  strikes  up  from  a  thousand 
minds  that  acts  upon  him  and  makes  the  speech. 

After  the  battle  of  Arms  comes  the  battle  of 
History. 

There  is  a  fellowship  among  the  Virtues  by 
which  one  great,  generous  passion  stimulates 
another. 

Growth  is  better  than  Permanence,  and  per 
manent  growth  is  better  than  all. 

The  principles  of  Ethics  have  not  changed  by 
the  lapse  of  years. 


430  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  possession  of  great  power  no  doubt  carries 
with  it  a  contempt  for  mere  external  show. 

[From  a  Speech  on  Repealing  the  Salary  Clause,  1873.] 

One  of  the  brightest  and  greatest  of  men  I 
know  in  this  nation  [Louis  Agassiz] ,  a  man  who, 
perhaps,  has  done  as  much  for  its  intellectual  life 
as  any  other,  told  me  not  many  months  ago  that 
he  had  made  it  the  rule  of  his  life  to  abandon  any 
intellectual  pursuit  the  moment  it  became  com 
mercially  valuable  ;  that  others  would  utilize  what 
he  had  discovered ;  that  his  field  of  work  was 
above  the  line  of  commercial  values,  and  when  he 
brought  down  the  great  truths  of  science  from  the 
upper  heights  to  the  level  of  commercial  values, 
a  thousand  hands  would  be  ready  to  take  them, 
and  make  them  more  valuable  in  the  markets  of 
the  world.  Pie  entered  upon  his  great  career,  not 
for  the  salary  it  gave  him,  for  that  was  meagre 
compared  with  the  pay  of  those  in  the  lower 
walks  of  life  ;  but  he  followed  the  promptings  of 
his  great  nature,  and  worked  for  the  love  of  truth 
and  the  instruction  of  mankind. 


[Letter  to  B.  A.  Hinsdale,  1874.] 

The  worst  days  of  darkness  through  which  I 
have  ever  passed  have  been  greatly  alleviated  by 
throwing  myself  with  all  my  energy  into  some 
work  relating  to  others. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  431 


[Speech  on  the  Currency  and  the  Public  Faith,  April  8, 
1874.] 

There  never  did  exist  on  this  earth  a  body  of 
men  wise  enough  to  determine  by  any  arbitrary 
rule  how  much  currency  is  needed  for  the  business 
of  a  great  country.  The  laws  of  trade,  the  laws 
of  credit,  the  laws  of  God  impressed  upon  tho 
elements  of  this  world,  are  superior  to  all  legisla 
tion  ;  and  we  can  enjoy  the  benefits  of  these  immu 
table  laws  only  by  obeying  them. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  again  and  again  that 
upon  the  artisans,  the  farmers,  the  day-laborers 
falls  at  last  the  dead  weight  of  all  the  depreciation 
and  loss  that  irredeemable  paper-money  carries  in 
its  train.  Let  this  policy  be  carried  out,  and  the 
day  will  surely  and  speedily  come  when  the  nation 
will  clearly  trace  the  cause  of  its  disaster  to  those 
who  deluded  themselves  and  the  people  with  what 
Jefferson  fitly  called  "  legerdemain  tricks  of  paper- 
money." 

[Speech  on  the  Railway  Problem,  June  22,  1874.] 

We  are  so  involved  in  the  events  and  movements 
of  society  that  we  do  not  stop  to  realize  —  what  is 
undeniably  true  —  that  during  the  last  forty  years 
all  modern  societies  have  entered  upon  a  period 
of  change  more  marked,  more  pervading,  more 


432  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

radical  than  any  that  has  occurred  during  the  last 
three  hundred  years.  In  saying  this,  I  do  not  for 
get  our  own  political  and  military  history,  nor  the 
French  Revolution  of  1793.  The  changes  now 
taking  place  have  been  wrought,  and  are  being 
wrought,  mainly,  almost  wholly,  b}'  a  single  me 
chanical  contrivance,  the  steam  locomotive.  Im 
agine,  if  you  can,  what  would  happen  if  to-morrow 
morning  the  railway  locomotive,  and  its  corollary, 
the  telegraph,  were  blotted  from  the  earth.  At 
first  thought,  it  would  seem  impossible  to  get  on  at 
all  with  the  feeble  substitutes  we  should  be  com 
pelled  to  adopt  in  place  of  these  great  forces.  To 
what  humble  proportions  mankind  would  be  com 
pelled  to  scale  down  the  great  enterprises  they  are 
now  pushing  forward  with  such  ease  !  But  were 
this  calamity  to  happen,  we  should  simply  be 
placed  where  we  were  forty-three  years  ago. 

There  are  many  persons  now  living  who  well 
remember  the  day  when  Andrew  Jackson,  after 
four  weeks  of  toilsome  travel  from  his  home  in 
Tennessee,  reached  Washington  and  took  his  first 
oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United  States. 
On  that  day  the  railway  locomotive  did  not  exist. 
During  that  year  Henry  Clay  was  struggling  to 
make  his  name  immortal  by  linking  it  with  the 
then  vast  project  of  building  a  national  road  —  a 
turnpike  —  from  the  national  capital  to  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  433 

In  the  autumn  of  that  very  year  George  Ste- 
phenson  ran  his  first  experimental  locomotive,  the 
"  Rocket,"  from  Manchester  to  Liverpool  and  back. 
The  rumble  of  its  wheels,  redoubled  a  million 
times,  is  echoing  to-day  on  every  continent. 

The  American  people  have  done  much  for  the 
locomotive,  and  it  has  done  much  for  them.  We 
have  already  seen  that  it  has  'greatly  reduced,  if 
not  wholly  destroyed,  the  danger  that  the  govern 
ment  will  fall  to  pieces  by  its  own  weight.  The 
railroad  has  not  only  brought  our  people  and  their 
industries  together,  but  it  has  carried  civilization 
into  the  wilderness,  has  built  up  States  and  Terri 
tories,  which,  but  for  its  power,  would  have  re 
mained  deserts  for  a  century  to  come.  "Abroad 
and  at  home,"  as  Mr.  Adams  tersely  declares,  "  it 
has  equally  nationalized  people  and  cosmopolized 
nations."  It  has  played  a  most  important  part  in 
the  recent  movement  for  the  unification  and  pres 
ervation  of  nations. 

It  enabled  us  to  do  what  the  old  military  science 
had  pronounced  impossible  —  to  conquer  a  revolted 
population  of  eleven  millions,  occupying  a  territory 
one-fifth  as  large  as  the  continent  of  Europe.  In 
an  able  essay  on  the  railway  system,  Mr.  Charles 
F.  Adams,  Jr.  has  pointed  out  some  of  the  remark 
able  achievements  of  the  railroad  in  our  recent 
history.  For  example,  a  single  railroad  track 
H 


434  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

enabled  Sherman  to  maintain  eighty  thousand  fight 
ing  men  three  hundred  miles  beyond  his  base  of 
supplies.  Another  line,  in  a  space  of  seven  days, 
brought  a  re-enforcement  of  two  fully  equipped 
army  corps  around  a  circuit  of  thirteen  hundred 
miles,  to  strengthen  an  army  at  a  threatened  point. 
He  calls  attention  to  the  still  more  striking  fact 
that  for  ten  years  past,  with  fifteen  hundred  mil 
lions  of  our  indebtedness  abroad,  an  enormous  debt 
at  home,  unparalleled  public  expenditures,  and  a 
depreciated  paper  currency,  in  defiance  of  all  past 
experience,  we  have  been  steadily  conquering  our 
difficulties,  have  escaped  the  predicted  collapse, 
and  are  promptly  meeting  our  engagements ;  be 
cause,  through  energetic  railroad  development,  the 
country  has  been  producing  real  wealth,  as  no 
country  has  produced  it  before.  Finally,  he  sums 
up  the  case  by  declaring  that  the  locomotive  has 
"  dragged  the  country  through  its  difficulties  in 
spite  of  itself." 

In  the  darkness  and  chaos  of  that  period,  the 
feudal  system  was  the  first  important  step  toward 
the  organization  of  modern  nations.  Powerful 
chiefs  and  barons  intrenched  themselves  in  castles, 
and,  in  return  for  submission  and  service,  gave  to 
their  vassals  rude  protection  and  ruder  laws.  But 
as  the  feudal  chiefs  grew  in  power  and  wealth, 
they  became  the  oppressors  of  their  people,  taxed 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  435 

and  robbed  them  at  will,  and  finally,  in  their  arro 
gance,  defied  the  kings  and  emperors  of  the  Medi 
aeval  States.  From  their  castles,  planted  on  the 
great  thoroughfares,  they  practised  the  most  capri 
cious  extortions  on  commerce  and  travel,  and  thus 
gave  to  modern  language  the  phrase,  "  levy  black 
mail." 

The  consolidation  of  our  great  industrial  and 
commercial  companies,  the  power  they  wield,  and 
the  relations  they  sustain  to  the  State  and  to  the 
industry  of  the  people,  do  not  fall  far  short  of 
Fourier's  definition  of  commercial  or  industrial 
feudalism.  The  modern  barons,  more  powerful 
than  their  military  prototypes,  own  our  greatest 
highways,  and  levy  tribute  at  will  upon  all  our 
vast  industries.  And,  as  the  old  feudalism  was 
finally  controlled  and  subordinated  only  by  the 
combined  efforts  of  the  kings  and  the  people  of 
the  free  cities  and  towns,  so  our  modern  feudalism 
can  be  subordinated  to  the  public  good  only  by 
the  great  body  of  the  people,  acting  through  their 
governments  by  wise  and  just  laws. 

I  shall  not  now  enter  upon  the  discussion  of 
methods  by  which  this  great  work  of  adjustment 
may  be  accomplished.  But  I  refuse  to  believe 
that  the  genius  and  energy  which  have  developed 
these  new  and  tremendous  forces,  will  fail  to 
make  them,  not  the  masters,  but  the  faithful  ser 
vants  of  society.  It  will  be  a  disgrace  to  our  age 


436  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

and  to  us,  if  we  do  not  discover  some  method  by 
which  the  public  functions  of  these  organizations 
may  be  brought  into  full  subordination  to  the 
public,  and  that,  too,  without  violence,  and  with 
out  unjust  interference  with  the  rights  of  private 
individuals.  It  will  be  unworthy  of  our  age,  and 
of  us,  if  we  make  the  discussion  of  this  subject  a 
mere  warfare  against  men.  For  in  these  great 
industrial  enterprises  have  been,  and  still  are  en 
gaged,  some  of  the  noblest  and  worthiest  men  of 
our  time.  It  is  the  system  —  its  tendencies  and 
its  dangers  —  which  society  itself  has  produced, 
that  we  are  now  to  confront.  And  these  indus 
tries  must  not  be  crippled,  but  promoted.  The 
evils  complained  of  are  mainly  of  our  own  mak 
ing.  States  and  communities  have  willingly  and 
thoughtlessly  conferred  these  great  powers  upon 
railways  ;  and  they  must  seek  to  rectify  their  own 
errors  without  injury  to  the  industries  they  have 
encouraged. 

It  depends  upon  the  wisdom,  the  culture,  the 
self-control  of  our  people  and  their  representa 
tives,  to  determine  how  wisely  and  how  well  this 
question  shall  be  settled.  But  that  it  will  be 
solved,  and  solved  in  the  interest  of  liberty  and 
justice,  I  do  not  doubt.  And  its  solution  will 
open  the  way  to  a  solution  of  a  whole  chapter  of 
similar  questions  that  relate  to  the  conflict  between 
capital  and  labor. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  437 

[From  a  Speech  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  June, 

1874.] 

The  division  between  church  and  state  ought  to 
be  so  absolute  that  no  church  property  anywhere, 
in  any  State  or  in  the  nation,  should  be  exempt 
from  taxation  ;  for,  if  you  exempt  the  property  of 
any  church  organization,  to  that  extent  you  impose 
a  church-tax  upon  the  whole  community. 

Occasion  may  be  the  bugle-call  that  summons 
an  army  to  battle,  but  the  blast  of  a  bugle  can 
never  make  soldiers  or  win  victories. 

Things  don't  turn  up  in  this  world  until  some 
body  turns  them  up. 

We  cannot  study  nature  profoundly  without 
bringing  ourselves  into  communion  with  the  spirit 
of  art  which  pervades  and  fills  the  universe. 

If  there  be  one  thing  upon  this  earth  that  man 
kind  love  and  admire  better  than  another,  it  is  a 
brave  man ;  it  is  a  man  who  dares  to  look  the 
devil  in  the  face,  and  tell  him  he  is  a  devil. 

It  is  one  of  the  precious  mysteries  of  sorrow, 
that  it  finds  solace  in  unselfish  thought. 

True  art  is  but  the  anti-type  of  nature,  the  em 
bodiment  of  discovered  beauty  in  utility. 


438  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

In  order  to  have  any  success  in  life,  or  any 
worthy  success,  you  must  resolve  to  carry  into 
your  work  a  fulness  of  knowledge  ;  not  merely  a 
sufficiency,  but  more  than  a  sufficiency. 

Be  fit  for  more  than  the  thing  you  are  now  doing. 

If  you  are  not  too  large  for  the  place,  you  are 
too  small  for  it. 

What  the  arts  are  to  the  world  of  matter,  lit 
erature  is  to  the  world  of  mind. 

Many  books  we  can  read  in  a  railroad  car,  and 
feel  a  harmony  between  the  rushing  of  the  train 
and  the  haste  of  the  author ;  but  to  enjoy  stand 
ard  works,  we  need  the  quiet  of  a  winter  evening ; 
an  easy-chair  before  a  cheerful  fire,  and  all  the 
equanimity  of  spirits  we  can  command. 

He  who  would  understand  the  real  spirit  of 
literature  should  not  select  authors  of  any  one 
period  alone,  but  rather  go  to  the  fountain-head, 
and  trace  the  little  rill  as  it  courses  along  down 
the  ages,  broadening  and  deepening  into  the  great 
ocean  of  thought  which  the  men  of  the  present 
are  exploring. 

The  true  literary  man  is  no  mere  gleaner,  fol 
lowing  in  the  rear  and  gathering  up  the  fragments 
of  the  world's  thought ;  but  he  goes  down  deep 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  439 

into  the  heart  of  humanity,  watches  its  throbbings ; 
analyzes  the  forces  at  work  there  ;  traces  out,  with 
prophetic  foresight,  their  tendencies,  and  thus, 
standing  out  far  beyond  his  age,  holds  up  the  pic 
ture  of  what  it  is  and  is  to  be. 

[Letter  to  A.  B.  Hinsdale,  1876.] 

I  have  followed  this  rule  [as  a  lawyer]  :  when 
ever  I  have  had  a  case,  I  have  undertaken  to  work 
out  thoroughly  the  principles  involved  in  it ;  not 
for  the  case  alone,  but  for  the  sake  of  comprehend 
ing  thoroughly  that  branch  of  the  law. 

[From  "  Life  and  Character  of  Almeda  A.  Booth,"  June  22, 

1876..] 

We  can  study  no  life  intelligently  except  in  its 
relation  to  causes  and  results.  Character  is  the 
chief  element ;  for  it  is  both  a  result  and  a  cause 
—  the  result  of  all  the  elements  and  forces  that 
combined  to  form  it,  and  the  chief  cause  of  all 
that  is  accomplished  by  its  possessor 

Every  character  is  the  joint  product  of  nature 
and  nurture.  By  the  first,  we  mean  those  inborn 
qualities  of  body  and  mind  inherited  from  parents, 
or  rather  from  a  long  line  of  ancestors.  Who  shall 
estimate  the  effect  of  those  latent  forces,  enfolded 
in  the  spirit  of  a  new-born  child,  which  may  date 
back  centuries,  and  find  their  origin  in  the  unwrit 
ten  history  of  remote  ancestors — forces,  the  germs 


440  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

of  which,  enveloped  in  the  solemn  mystery  of  life, 
have  been  transmitted  silently,  from  generation  to 
generation,  and  never  perish?  All-cherishing  Na 
ture,  provident  and  unforgetting,  gathers  up  all 
these  fragments  that  nothing  may  be  lost,  but  that 
all  may  reappear  in  new  combinations.  Each  new 
life  is  thus  the  "  heir  of  all  the  ages,"  the  possessor 
of  qualities  which  only  the  events  of  life  can  un 
fold. 

By  the  second  element,  nurture,  culture,  we 
designate  all  those  influences  which  act  upon  this 
initial  force  of  character,  to  retard  or  strengthen 
its  development.  There  has  been  much  discussion 
to  determine  which  of  these  elements  plays  the 
more  important  part  in  the  formation  of  character. 
The  truth  doubtless  is,  that  sometimes  the  one  and 
sometimes  the  other  is  the  greater  force ;  but  so 
far  as  life  and  character  are  dependent  upon  volun 
tary  action,  the  second  is  no  doubt  the  element  of 
chief  importance. 

[From  the  Same.] 

Not  enough  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  marked 
difference  between  the  situation  and  possibilities 
of  a  life  developed  here  in  the  West,  during  the 
first  half  of  the  present  century,  and  those  of  a 
life  nurtured  and  cultivated  in  an  old  and  settled 
community  like  that  of  New  England. 

Consider,  for  example,  the  measureless  differ- 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  441 

ence  between  the  isarly  surroundings  of  John 
Quincy  Adams  and  Abraham  Lincoln.  Both 
were  possessed  of  great  natural  endowments 
Adams  was  blessed  with  parents  whose  native 
force  of  character,  and  whose  vigorous  and  thor 
ough  culture  have  never  been  surpassed  by  any 
married  pair  in  America.  Young  Adams  was 
thoroughly  taught  by  his  mother  until  he  had  com 
pleted  his  tenth  year ;  and  then,  accompanying  his 
father  to  France,  he  spent  two  years  in  a  training- 
school  at  Paris  and  three  years  in  the  University  at 
Ley  den.  After  two  years  of  diplomatic  service, 
under  the  skilful  guidance  of  his  father's  hand,  he 
returned  to  America,  and  devoted  three  years  to 
study  at  Harvard,  where  he  was  graduated  at  the 
age  of  twenty-one ;  and,  three  years  later,  was 
graduated  in  the  law,  under  the  foremost  jurist  of 
his  time.  With  such  parentage  and  such  oppor 
tunities,  who  can  wonder  that  by  the  time  he 
reached  the  meridian  of  his  life,  he  was  a  man  of 
immense  erudition,  and  had  honored  every  great 
office  in  the  gift  of  his  country  ? 

How  startling  the  contrast,  in  every  particular, 
between  his  early  life  and  that  of  Abraham  Lin 
coln.  .  .  .  Born  to  an  inheritance  of  the  extrem- 
est  poverty,  wholly  unaided  by  his  parents,  sur 
rounded  by  the  rude  forces  of  the  wilderness,  only 
one  year  at  any  school,  never  for  a  day  master  of 
his  own  time  until  he  reached  Ms  majority,  forcing 


442  LIFE    AXD    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

his  way  to  the  profession  of  «the  law  by  the  hard 
est  and  roughest  road,  and  beginning  its  practice 
at  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  yet,  by  the  force  of 
unconquerable  will  and  persistent  hard  work,  he 
attained  a  foremost  place  in  his  profession. 

"  And,  moving  up  from  high  to  higher. 
Became,  on  fortune's  crowning  slope, 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

[From  the  Same.] 

It  is  one  of  the  precious  mysteries  of  sorrow, 
that  it  finds  solace  in  unselfish  work. 

A  pound  of  pluck  is  worth  a  ton  of  luck.  Let 
not  poverty  stand  as  an  obstacle  in  your  way. 

Here  is  the  volume  of  our  laws.  More  sacred 
than  the  twelve  tables  of  Rome,  this  rock  of  the 
law  rises  in  monumental  grandeur  alike  above  the 
people  and  the  President,  above  the  courts,  above 
Congress,  commanding  everywhere  reverence  and 
obedience  to  its-supreme  authority. 

That  man  makes  a  vital  mistake  who  judges 
truth  in  relation  to  financial  affairs  from  the  chang 
ing  phases  of  public  opinion.  He  might  as  well 
stand  on  the  shore  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  from 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  a  single  tide  attempt  to  deter 
mine  the  general  level  of  the  sea,  as  to  stand  upon 
this  floor,  and  from  the  current  of  public  opinion 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  443 

on  any  one  debate,  judge  of  the  general  level  of 
the  public  mind.  It  is  only  when  long  spaces 
along  the  shore  of  the  sea  are  taken  into  account 
that  the  grand  lever  is  found  from  which  the 
heights  and  depths  are  measured.  And  it  is  only 
when  long  spaces  of  time  are  considered,  that  we 
find  at  last  that  level  of  public  opinion  which  we 
call  the  general  judgment  of  mankind. 

Bad  faith  on  the  part  of  an  individual,  a  city,  or 
even  a  State,  is  a  small  evil  in  comparison  with 
the  calamities  which  follow  bad  faith  on  the  part 
of  a  sovereign  government. 

In  the  complex  and  delicately  adjusted  relations 
of  modern  society,  confidence  in  promises  lawfully 
mad®  is  the  life-blood  of  trade  and  commerce.  It 
is  the  vital  air  Labor  breathes.  It  is  the  light 
which  shines  on  the  pathway  of  prosperity. 

An  act  of  bad  faith  on  the  part  of  a  State  or 
municipal  corporation,  like  poison  in  the  blood, 
will  transmit  its  curse  to  succeeding  generations. 

We  are  accustomed  to  hear  it  said  that  the  great 
powers  of  government  in  this  country  are  divided 
into  two  classes ;  National  powers  and  State 
powers.  That  is  an  incomplete  classification. 
Our  fathers  carefully  divided  all  governmental 
powers  into  three  classes ;  one  they  gave  to  the 


444  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

States,  another  to  the  Nation ;  but  the  third  great 
class,  comprising  the  most  precious  of  all  powers, 
they  refused  to  confer  on  the  State  or  Nation,  but 
reserved  to  themselves.  This  third  class  of 
powers  has  been  almost  uniformly  overlooked  by 
men  who  have  written  and  discussed  the  American 
system. 

Congress  must  always  be  the  exponent  of  the 
political  character  and  culture  of  the  people,  and 
if  the  next  centennial  does  not  find  us  a  great  Na 
tion  with  a  great  and  worthy  Congress,  it  will  be 
because  those  who  represent  the  enterprise,  the 
culture,  and  the  morality  of  the  Nation  do  not  aid 
in  controlling  the  political  forces  which  are  em 
ployed  to  select  the  men  who  shall  occupy  the 
great  places  of  trust  and  power. 

There  is  scarcely  a  conceivable  form  of  corrup 
tion  or  public  wrong  that  does  not  at  last  present 
itself  at  the  cashier's  desk  and  demand  money. 
The  Legislature  therefore,  that  stands  at  the  cash 
ier's  desk  and  watches  with  its  Argus  eyes  the  de 
mands  for  payment  over  the  counter  is  most  cer 
tain  to  see  all  the  forms  of  public  rascality. 

A  steady  and  constant  Revenue  drawn  from 
sources  that  represent  the  prosperity  of  the  nation, 
—  a  Revenue  that  grows  with  the  growth  of  na 
tional  wealth,  and  is  so  adjusted  to  the  expendi- 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  445 

tures,  that  a  constant  and  considerable  surplus  is 
annually  left  in  the  Treasury  above  all  the  neces 
sary  current  demands,  a  surplus  that  keeps  the 
Treasury  strong,  that  holds  it  above  the  fear  of 
sudden  panic,  that  makes  it  impregnable  against 
all  private  combinations,  that  makes  it  a  terror  to 
all  stock-jobbing  and  gold-gambling,  —  this  is  fi 
nancial  health. 

[From  the  "  Atlantic  Monthly,"  July,  1877.] 
The  most  alarming  feature  of  our  situation  is 
the  fact,  that  so  many  citizens  of  high  character 
and  solid  judgment  pay  but  little  attention  to  the 
sources  of  political  power,  to  the  selection  of  those 
who  shall  make  their  laws.  ...  It  is  precisely 
this  neglect  of  the  first  steps  in  our  political  pro 
cesses  that  has  made  possible  the  worst  evils  of 
our  system.  Corrupt  and  incompetent  presidents, 
judges,  and  legislators  can  be  removed,  but  when 
the  fountains  of  political  power  are  corrupted, 
when  voters  themselves  become  venal,  and  elections 
fraudulent,  there  is  no  remedy  except  by  awaken 
ing  the  public  conscience,  and  bringing  to  bear 
upon  the  subject  the  power  of  public  opinion  and 
the  penalties  of  the  law.  ...  In  a  word,  our 
national  safety  demands  that  the  fountains  of 
political  power  shall  be  made  pure  by  intelligence, 
and  kept  pure  by  vigilance  ;  that  the  best  citizens 
shall  take  heed  to  the  selection  and  election  of  the 


446  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

worthiest  and  most  intelligent  amon*?  them  to  hold 

O  O 

seats  in  the  national  legislature  ;  and  that  when  the 
choice  has  been  made,  the  continuance  of  their 
representative  shall  depend  upon  his  faithfulness, 
his  ability,  and  his  willingness  to  work. 

[Speech  on  the  presentation  to  Congress  of  Carpenter's 
painting  of  President  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet,  at  the 
time  of  his  first  reading  of  the  Proclamation  of  Emanci 
pation,  January  16,  1878.] 

Let  us  pause  to  consider  the  actors  in  that  scene. 
In  force  of  character,  in  thoroughness  and  breadth 
of  culture,  in  experience  of  public  affairs,  and  in 
national  reputation,  the  cabinet  that  sat  around 
that  council-board  has  had  no  superior,  perhaps  no 
equal  in  our  history.  Seward,  the  finished  scholar, 
the  consummate  orator,  the  great  leader  of  the 
senate,  had  come  to  crown  his  career  with  those 
achievements  which  placed  him  in  the  first  rank 
of  modern  diplomatists.  Chase,  with  a  culture 
and  a  frame  of  massive  grandeur,  stood  as  the  rock 
and  pillar  of  the  public  credit,  the  noble  embodi 
ment  of  the  public  faith.  Stanton  was  there,  a 
very  Titan  of  strength,  the  great  organizer  of  vic 
tory.  Eminent  lawyers,  men  of  business.,  leaders 
of  states,  and  leaders  of  men,  completed  the 
group. 

But  the  man  who  presided  over  that  council, 
who  inspired  and  guided  its  determinations,  was 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  447 

a  character  so  unique  that  he  stood  alone,  without 
a  model  in  history,  or  a  parallel  among  men.  Born 
on  this  day,  sixty-nine  years  ago,  to  an  inheritance 
of  extremest  poverty,  surrounded  by  the  rude 
forces  of  the  wilderness ;  wholly  unaided  by  par 
ents  ;  only  one  year  in  any  school ;  never,  for 
a  day,  master  of  his  own  time  until  he  reached 
his  majority  ;  making  his  way  to  the  profession  of 
the  law  by  the  hardest  and  roughest  road  ;  yet,  by 
force  of  unconquerable  will  and  persistent,  pa 
tient  work,  he  attained  a  foremost  place  in  his  pro 
fession, 

"  And,  moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 
Became,  on  fortune's  crowning  slope, 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  centre  of  a  world's  desire." 

At  first  it  was  the  prevailing  belief  that  he 
would  be  only  the  nominal  head  of  his  adminis 
tration  ;  that  its  policy  would  be  directed  by  the 
eminent  statesmen  he  had  called  to  his  council. 
How  erroneous  this  opinion  was,  may  be  seen 
from  a  single  incident.  Among  the  earliest,  most 
difficult,  and  most  delicate  duties  of  his  adminis 
tration,  was  the  adjustment  of  our  relations  with 
Great  Britain.  Serious  complications,  even  hostil 
ities,  were  apprehended.  On  the  21st  day  of 
May,  1861,  the  Secretary  of  State  presented  to 
the  President  his  draught  of  a  letter  of  instruc 
tions  to  Minister  Adams,  in  which  the  position  of 


448  LIFE    AXD    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

the  United  States  and  the  attitude  of  Great  Britain 
were  set  forth  with  the  clearness  and  force  which 
long  experience  and  great  ability  hud  placed  at  the 
command  of  the  Secretary. 

Upon  almost  every  page  of  that  original  draught 
are  erasures,  additions,  and  marginal  notes  in  the 
handwriting  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  which  exhibit  a 
sagacity,  a  breadth  of  wisdom,  and  a  comprehen 
sion  of  the  whole  subject,  impossible  to  be  found 
except  in  a  man  of  the  very  first  order.  And 
these  modifications  of  a  great  state-paper  were 
made  by  a  man  who,  but  three  months  before,  had 
entered,  for  the  first  time,  the  wide  theatre  of 
executive  action. 

Gifted  with  an  insight  and  a  foresight  which  the 
ancients  would  have  called  divination,  he  saw,  in 
the  midst  of  darkness  and  obscurity,  the  logic  of 
events,  and  forecast  the  result.  From  the  first,  in 
his  own  quaint,  original  way,  without  ostentation 
or  offence  to  his  associates,  he  was  pilot  and  com 
mander  of  his  administration.  He  was  one  of  the 
few  great  rulers  whose  wrisdom  increased  with  his 
power,  and  whose  spirit  grew  gentler  and  tenderer 
as  his  triumphs  were  multiplied. 

[From  the  "North  American  Review,"  May-June,  1878.] 
The  Secretary  of  War  is  a  civil  officer ;  one  of 
the  constitutional  advisers  of  the  President  —  his 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  449 

civil  executive  to  direct  and  control  military  affairs, 
and  conduct  army  administration  for  the  President. 
.  .  .  This  was  clearly  understood  in  our  early  his 
tory,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  our  most  emi 
nent  Secretaries  of  War  have  been  civilians,  who 
brought  to  the  duties  of  the  office  great  political 
and  legal  experience,  and  other  high  qualities  of 
statesmanship. 

Perhaps  it  was  wise  in  Washington  to  choose  as 
the  first  Secretary  of  War,  a  distinguished  soldier, 
for  the  purpose  of  creating  and  setting  in  order 
the  military  establishment ;  but  it  may  well  be 
doubted  if  any  subsequent  appointment  of  a  soldier 
to  that  position  has  been  wise.  In  fact,  most  of 
the  misadjustments  between  the  Secretary  of  War 
and  the  army,  so  much  complained  of  in  recent 
years,  originated  with  a  Secretary  of  War  who 
had  been  a  soldier,  and  could  hardly  refrain  from 
usurping  the  functions  of  command.  .  .  . 

No  very  serious  conflict  of  jurisdiction  and 
command  occurred  until  Jefferson  Davis  became 
Secretary  of  War.  His  early  training  as  a  soldier, 
his  spirit  of  self-reliance  and  habits  of  imperious 
command,  soon  brought  him  into  collision  with 
General  Scott,  and  were  the  occasion  of  a  corre 
spondence,  perhaps  the  most  acrimonious  ever 
carried  on  by  any  prominent  public  man  of  our 
country. 


450  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 


[From  a  Speech  at   Faneuil   Hall,  Boston,  September  11, 

1878.] 

The  Republican  party  of  this  country  has  said, 
and  it  says  to-day,  that,  forgetting  all  the  animosi 
ties  of  the  war,  forgetting  all  the  fierceness  and 
the  passion  of  it,  it  reaches  out  both  its  hands  to 
the  gallant  men  who  fought  us,  and  offers  all  fel 
lowship,  all  comradeship,  all  feelings  of  brother 
hood,  on  this  sole  condition,  and  on  that  condition 
they  will  insist  forever :  That  in  the  war  for  the 
Union  we  were  right,  forever  right,  and  that  in 
the  war  against  the  Union  they  were  wrong,  for 
ever  wrong.  We  never  made  terms,  we  never 
will  make  terms,  with  the  man  who  denies  the 
everlasting  rightfulness  of  our  cause.  That  would 
be  treason  to  the  dead  and  injustice  to  the  living ; 
and  on  that  basis  alone  our  pacification  is  com 
plete.  We  ask  that  it  be  realized,  and  we  shall 
consider  it  fully  realized  when  it  is  just  as  safe 
and  just  as  honorable  for  a  good  citizen  of  South 
Carolina  to  be  a  Republican  there  as  it  is  for 
a  good  citizen  of  Massachusetts  to  be  a  Democrat 
here. 

[  From  an  Address  at  Hiram  College.] 

Our  great  dangers  are  not  from  without.  We 
do  not  live  by  the  consent  of  any  other  nation. 
We  must  look  within  to  find  elements  of  danger. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  451 

[From  a  Speech  on  the  Ninth  Census.] 
Statesmanship  consists  rather  in  removing  causes 
than  in  punishing,  or  evading  results. 

[From  a  Speech,  December  10,  1878.] 
The  man  who  wants  to  serve  his  country  must 
put  himself  in  the  line  of  its  leading  thought,  and 
that  is  the  restoration  of  business,  trade,  com 
merce,  industry,  sound  political  economy,  hard 
money,  and  the  payment  of  all  obligations ;  and 
the  man  who  can  add  anything  in  the  direction  of 
accomplishing  any  of  these  purposes  is  a  public 
benefactor. 

The  scientific  spirit  has  cast  out  the  Demons  and 
presented  us  with  Nature,  clothed  in  her  right  mind 
and  living  under  the  reign  of  law.  It  has  given 
us  for  the  sorceries  of  the  alchemist,  the  beautiful 
laws  of  chemistry ;  for  the  dreams  of  the  astrol 
oger,  the  sublime  truths  of  astronomy ;  for  the 
wild  visions  of  cosmogony,  the  monumental  rec 
ords  of  geology ;  for  the  anarchy  of  diabolism, 
the  laws  of  God. 

We  no  longer  attribute  the  untimely  death  of 
infants  to  the  sin  of  Adam,  but  to  bad  nursing  and 
ignorance. 

Truth  is  so  related  and  correlated  that  no  depart 
ment  of  her  realm  is  wholly  isolated. 


452  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Truth  is  the  food  of  the  human  spirit,  which 
could  not  grow  in  its  majestic  proportions  without 
clearer  and  more  truthful  views  of  God  and  his 
universe. 

Ideas  are  the  great  warriors  of  the  world,  and  a 
war  that  has  no  ideas  behind  it  is  simply  brutality. 

I  love  to  believe  that  no  heroic  sacrifice  is  ever 
lost,  that  the  characters  of  men  are  moulded  and 
inspired  by  what  their  fathers  have  done ;  that, 
treasured  up  in  American  souls  are  all  the  uncon 
scious  influences  of  the  great  deeds  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  from  Agincourt  to  Bunker  Hill. 

Eternity  alone  will  reveal  to  the  human  race  its 
debt  of  gratitude  to  the  peerless  and  immortal  name 
of  Washington. 

I  doubt  if  any  man  equalled  Samuel  Adams  in 
formulating  and  uttering  the  fierce,  clear,  and  inex 
orable  logic  of  the  Revolution. 

The  last  eight  decades  have  witnessed  an  Empire 
spring  up  in  the  full  panoply  of  lusty  life,  from  a 
trackless  wilderness. 

In  their  struggle  with  the  forces  of  nature,  the 
ability  to  labor  was  the  richest  patrimony  of  the 
colonist. 

The  granite  hills  are  not  so  changeless  and  abid 
ing  as  the  restless  sea. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  453 

To  him  a  battle  was  neither  an  earthquake,  nor 
a  volcano,  nor  a  chaos  of  brave  men  and  frantic 
horses  involved  in  vast  explosions  of  gunpowder. 
It  was  rather  a  calm  rational  combination  of  force 
against  force. — Oration  on  Geo.  H.  Thomas. 

After  the  fire  and  blood  of  the  battle-fields  have 
disappeared,  nowhere  does  war  show  its  destroy 
ing  power  so  certainly  and  so  relentlessly  as  in  the 
columns  which  represent  the  taxes  and  expendi 
tures  of  the  nation. 

[From  a  Speech,  June  2,  1879.] 

The  Resumption  of  Specie  Payments  closes  the 
most  memorable  epoch  in  our  history  since  the 
birth  of  the  Union.  Eighteen  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  and  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-nine  are  the 
opposite  shores  of  that  turbulent  sea  whose  storms 
so  seriously  threatened  with  shipwreck  the  pros 
perity,  the  honor,  and  the  life  of  the  nation.  But 
the  horrors  and  dangers  of  the  middle-passage 
have  at  last  been  mastered ;  and  out  of  the  night 
and  tempest  the  Republic  has  landed  on  the  shore 
of  this  new  year,  bringing  with  it  union  and  lib 
erty,  honor  and  peace. 

Our  country  needs  not  only  a  national  but  an 
international  currency. 


454  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Let  us  have  equality  of  dollars  before  the  law, 
so  that  the  trinity  of  our  political  creed  shall  be  — 
equal  States,  equal  men,  and  equal  dollars  through 
out  the  Union. 


[Address,  at  the  Memorial  Meeting,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  January  16,  1879.] 

No  page  of  human  history  is  so  instructive  and 
significant  as  the  record  of  those  early  influences 
which  develop  the  character  and  direct  the  lives  of 
eminent  men.  To  every  man  of  great  original 
power,  there  comes  in  early  youth,  a  moment  of 
sudden  discovery  —  of  self  recognition  —  when  his 
own  nature  is  revealed  to  himself,  when  he  catches, 
for  the  first  time,  a  strain  of  that  immortal  song  to 
which  his  own  spirit  answers,  and  which  becomes 
thenceforth  and  forever  the  inspiration  of  his  life  — 

"  Like  noble  music  unto  noble  words." 

More  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  in  Strasbourg, 
on  the  Rhine,  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  his 
father,  a  German  lad  was  reluctantly  studying  the 
mysteries  of  the  civil  law,  but  feeding  his  spirit  as 
best  he  could  upon  the  formal  and  artificial  poetry 
of  his  native  land,  when  a  page  of  William  Shakes 
peare  met  his  eye,  and  changed  the  whole  current 
of  his  life.  Abandoning  the  law,  he  created  and 
crowned  with  an  immortal  name  the  grandest  epoch 
of  German  literature. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  455 

Recording  his  own  experience,  he  says : 

At  the  first  touch  of  Shakespeare's  genius,  I  made  the 
glad  confession  that  something  inspiring  hovered  above  me. 
.  .  .  The  first  page  of  his  that  I  read  made  me  his  for  life ; 
and  when  I  had  finished  a  single  play,  I  stood  like  one  born 
blind,  on  whom  a  miraculous  hand  bestows  sight  in  a  mo 
ment.  I  saw,  I  felt,  in  the  most  vivid  manner  that  my  ex 
istence  was  infinitely  expanded. 

This  Old  World  experience  of  Goethe's  was 
strikingly  reproduced,  though  under  different  con 
ditions  and  with  different  results,  in  the  early  life 
of  Joseph  Henry.  You  have  just  heard  the  inci 
dent  worthily  recounted ;  but  let  us  linger  over  it 
a  moment.  An  orphan  boy  of  sixteen,  of  tough 
Scotch  fibre,  laboring  for  his  own  support  at  the 
handicraft  of  the  jeweler,  unconscious  of  his  great 
power,  delighted  with  romance  and  the  drama, 
dreaming  of  a  possible  career  on  the  stage,  his 
attention  was  suddenly  arrested  by  a  single  page 
of  an  humble  book  of  science  which  chanced  to 
fall  into  his  hands.  It  was  not  the  flash  of  a  poetic 
vision  which  aroused  him.  It  was  the  voice  of 
great  Nature  calling  her  child.  With  quick  recog 
nition  and  glad  reverence  his  spirit  responded; 
and  from  that  moment  to  the  end  of  his  long 
and  honored  life,  Joseph  Henry  was  the  devoted 
student  of  science,  the  faithful  interpreter  of 
nature. 

To  those  who  knew  his  gentle  spirit,  it  is  not 


456  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

surprising  that  ever  afterward  he  kept  the  little 
volume  near  him,  and  cherished  it  as  the  source  of 
his  first  inspiration.  In  the  maturity  of  his  fame 
he  recorded  on  its  fly-leaf  his  gratitude.  Note  his 
words : 

This  book,  under  Providence,  has  exerted  a  remarkable 
influence  on  my  life.  ...  It  opened  to  me  a  new  world  of 
thought  and  enjoyment,  invested  things  before  almost  unno 
ticed  with  the  highest  interest,  fixed  my  mind  on  the  study 
of  nature,  and  caused  me  to  resolve,  at  the  time  of  reading 
it,  that  I  would  devote  my  life  to  the  acquisition  of 
knowledge. 

We  have  heard  from  his  venerable  associates 
with  what  resolute  perseverance  he  trained  his 
mind  and  marshalled  his  powers  for  the  higher 
realms  of  science.  He  was  the  first  American  after 
Franklin  who  made  a  series  of  successful  original 
experiments  in  electricity  and  magnetism.  He 
entered  the  mighty  line  of  Yolta,  Galvani,  Oersted, 
Davy,  and  Ampere,  the  great  exploring  philoso 
phers  of  the  world,  and  added  to  their  work  a  final 
great  discovery,  which  made  the  electro-magnetic 
telegraph  possible. 

It  remained  only  for  the  inventor  to  construct 
an  instrument  and  an  alphabet.  Professor  Henry 
refused  to  reap  any  pecuniary  rewards  from  his 
great  discovery,  but  gave  freely  to  mankind  what 
nature  and  science  had  given  to  him.  The  vener 
able  gentleman  of  almost  eighty  years,  who  has 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  457 

just  addressed  us  so  eloquently,  has  portrayed 
the  difficulties  which  beset  the  government  in  its 
attempt  to  determine  how  it  should  wisely  and 
worthily  execute  the  trust  of  Smithson.  It  was  a 
perilous  moment  for  the  credit  of  America  when 
that  bequest  was  made.  In  his  large  catholicity 
of  mind,  Smithson  did  not  trammel  the  bequest  with 
conditions.  In  nine  words  he  set  forth  its  object 
—  * '  for  the  increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge 
among  men."  He  asked  and  believed  that  America 
would  interpret  his  wish  aright,  and  with  the  lib 
eral  wisdom  of  science 

For  ten  years  Congress  wrestled  with  those  nine 
words  of  Smithson  and  could  not  handle  them. 
Some  political  philosophers  of  that  period  held 
that  we  had  no  constitutional  authority  to  accept 
the  gift  at  all  [laughter]  and  proposed  to  send  it 
back  to  England.  Every  conceivable  proposition 
was  made.  The  colleges  clutched  at  it;  the 
libraries  wanted  it ;  the  publication  societies  de 
sired  to  scatter  it.  The  fortunate  settlement  of 
the  question  was  this  :  that,  after  ten  years  of 
wrangling,  Congress  was  wise  enough  to  acknowl 
edge  its  own  ignorance,  and  authorized  a  body  of 
men  to  find  some  one  who  knew  how  to  settle  it. 
[Applause.]  And  these  men  were  wise  enough 
to  choose  your  great  comrade  to  undertake  the 
task.  Sacrificing  his  brilliant  prospects  as  a  dis 
coverer,  he  undertook  the  difficult  work.  He 


458  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

drafted  a  paper,  in  which  he  offered  an  interpre 
tation  of  the  will  of  Smithson,  mapped  out  a  plan 
which  would  meet  the  demands  of  science,  and 
submitted  it  to  the  suffrage  of  the  republic  of 
scientific  scholars.  After  due  deliberation  it  re 
ceived  the  almost  unanimous  approval  of  the 
scientific  world.  With  faith  and  sturdy  persever 
ance,  he  adhered  to  the  plan  and  steadily  resisted 
all  attempts  to  overthrow  it. 

In  the  thirty-two  years  during  which  he  admin 
istered  the  great  trust,  he  never  swrerved  from  his 
first  purpose ;  and  he  succeeded  at  last  in  realizing 
the  ideas  with  which  he  started. 

The  germ  of  our  political  institutions,  the  pri 
mary  cell  from  which  they  were  evolved,  was  in  the 
New  England  town,  and  the  vital  force,  the  inform 
ing  soul  of  the  town,  was  the  Town  Meeting, 
which  for  all  local  concerns  was  king,  lords,  and 
commons  in  all. 

It  is  as  much  the  duty  of  all  good  men  to 
protect  and  defend  the  reputation  of  worthy  public 
servants  as  to  detect  public  rascals. 

Political  parties,  like  poets,  are  born,  not  made. 
No  act  of  political  mechanics,  however  wise,  can 
manufacture  to  order  and  make  a  platform,  and 
put  a  party  on  it  which  will  live  and  flourish. 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  459 


[On  the  Relation  of  the  Government  to  Science,  February 
11,  1879.] 

What  ought  to  be  the  relation  of  the  National 
Government  to  science  ?  What,  if  anything,  ought 
we  to  do  in  the  way  of  promoting  science  ?  For 
example,  if  we  have  the  power,  would  it  be  wise 
for  Congress  to  appropriate  money  out  of  the 
Treasury,  to  employ  naturalists  to  find  out  all  that 
is  to  be  known  of  our  American  birds?  Orni 
thology  is  a  delightful  and  useful  study  ;  but  would 
it  be  wise  for  Congress  to  make  an  appropriation 
for  the  advancement  of  that  science?  In  my 
judgment,  manifestly  not.  We  would  thereby 
make  one  favored  class  of  men  the  rivals  of  all  the 
ornithologists  who,  in  their  private  way,  following 
the  bent  of  their  genius,  may  be  working  out  the 
results  of  science  in  that  field.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  an  appropriation  out  of  our  Treasury  for  that 
purpose  would  be  a  positive  injury  to  the  advance 
ment  of  science,  just  as  an  appropriation  to  estab 
lish  a  church  would  work  injury  to  religion. 

Generally,  the  desire  of  our  scientific  men  is  to 
be  let  alone  to  work  in  free  competition  with  all 
the  scientific  men  of  the  world ;  to  develop  their 
own  results,  and  get  the  credit  of  them  each  for 
himself ;  not  to  have  the  Government  enter  the  lists 
as  the  rival  of  private  enterprise. 

As  a  general  principal,  therefore,   the   United 


460  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

States  ought  not  to  interfere  in  matters  of  science, 
but  should  leave  its  development  to  the  free,  vol 
untary  action  of  our  great  third  estate,  the  people 
themselves. 

In  this  non-interference  theory  of  the  Govern 
ment,  I  do  not  go  to  the  extent  of  saying  that  we 
should  do  nothing  for  education — for  primary 
education.  That  comes  under  another  consider 
ation —  the  necessity  of  the  nation  to  protect 
itself,  and  the  consideration  that  it  is  cheaper  and 
wiser  to  give  education  than  to  build  jails.  But  I 
am  speaking  now  of  the  higher  sciences. 

To  the  general  principle  I  have  stated,  there  are 
a  few  obvious  exceptions  which  should  be  clearly 
understood  when  we  legislate  on  the  subject.  In 
the  first  place,  the  Government  should  aid  all  sorts 
of  scientific  inquiry  that  are  necessary  to  the  in 
telligent  exercise  of  its  own  functions. 

For  example,  as  we  are  authorized  by  the  Con 
stitution  and  compelled  by  necessity  to  build  and 
maintain  light-houses  on  our  coast  and  establish 
fog-signals,  we  are  bound  to  make  all  necessary 
scientific  inquiries  in  reference  to  light  and  its 
laws,  sound  and  its  laws — to  do  whatever  in  the 
way  of  science  is  necessary  to  achieve  the  best 
results  in  lighting  our  coasts  and  warning  our 
mariners  of  danger.  So,  when  we  are  building 
iron-clads  for  our  navy  or  casting  guns  for  our 
army,  we  ought  to  know  all  that  is  scientifically 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


461 


possible  to  be  known  about  the  strength  of  ma 
terials  and  the  laws  of  mechanics  which  apply  to 
such  structures.  In  short,  wherever  in  exercising 
any  of  the  necessary  functions  of  the  Government 
scientific  inquiry  is  needed,  let  us  make  it,  to  the 
fullest  extent,  and  at  the  public  expense. 

There  is  another  exception  to  the  general  rule 
of  leaving  science  to  the  voluntary  action  of  the 
people.  Wherever  any  great  popular  interest, 
affecting  whole  classes,  possibly  all  classes  of  the 
community,  imperatively  need  scientific  investiga 
tion,  and  private  enterprise  cannot  accomplish  it, 
we  may  wisely  intervene  an<i  help  where  the  Con 
stitution  gives  us  authority.  For  example,  in 
discovering  the  origin  of  yellow-fever  and  the 
methods  of  preventing  its  ravages,  the  nation 
should  do,  for  the  good  of  all,  what  neither  the 
States  nor  individuals  can  accomplish.  I  might 
perhaps  include  in  a  third  exception  those  inquiries 
which,  in  consequence  of  their  great  magnitude 
and  cost,  cannot  be  successfully  made  by  private 
individuals.  Outside  these  three  classes  of  in 
quiries,  the  Government  ought  to  keep  its  hands 
off,  and  leave  scientific  experiment  and  inquiry  to 
the  free  competition  of  those  bright,  intelligent 
men  whose  genius  leads  them  into  the  fields  of 
research. 

And  I  suspect,  when  we  read  the  report  of  our 
commissioner  to  the  late  Paris  Exposition,  which 


462  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

shows  such  astonishing  results,  so  creditable  to  our 
country,  so  honorable  to  the  genius  of  our  people, 
it  will  be  found,  in  any  final  analysis  of  causes, 
that  the  superiority  of  Americans  in  that  great  Ex 
position  resulted  mainly  from  their  superior  free 
dom,  and  the  greater  competition  between  mind 
and  mind  untrammelled  by  Government  interfer 
ence  ;  I  believe  it  will  be  found  wo  aro  best 
serving  the  cause  of  religion  and  science,  and  all 
those  great  primary  rights  which  we  did  not  dele 
gate  to  the  Congress  or  the  States,  but  left  the 
people  free  to  enjoy  and  maintain  them. 

[Speech  on  the  National  Election.] 

The  great  danger  which  threatens  this  country  is, 
that  our  sovereign  may  be  dethroned  or  destroyed 
by  corruption.  In  any  monarchy  of  the  world,  if 
the  sovereign  be  slain  or  become  lunatic,  it  is  easy 
to  put  another  in  his  place,  for  the  sovereign  is  a 
person.  But  our  sovereign  is  the  whole  body  of 
voters.  If  you  kill,  or  corrupt,  or  render  lunatic 
our  sovereign,  there  is  no  successor,  no  regent  to 
take  his  place.  The  source  of  our  sovereign's 
supreme  danger,  the  point  where  his  life  is  vul 
nerable,  is  at  the  ballot-box,  where  his  will  is 
declared ;  and  if  we  cannot  stand  by  that  cradle 
of  our  sovereign's  heir-apparent  and  protect  it  to 
the  uttermost  against  all  assassins  and  assailants, 
we  have  no  government  and  no  safety  for  the  future. 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  463 


[Remarks,  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  February  11, 
1879,  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Gustave  Schleicher.] 

We  are  accustomed  to  say,  and  we  have  heard 
to-night,  that  he  [Gustave  Schleicher]  was  born 
on  foreign  soil.  In  one  sense  that  is  true  ;  and  yet 
in  a  very  proper  historic  sense  he  was  born  in  our 
fatherland.  One  of  the  ablest  of  recent  historians 
begins  his  opening  volume  with  the  declaration  that 
England  is  not  the  fatherland  of  the  Engligh-speak- 
ing  people,  but  the  ancient  home,  the  real  father 
land  of  our  race,  is  the  ancient  forests  of  Germany. 
The  same  thought  was  suggested  by  Montesquieu 
long  ago,  when  he  declared  in  his  Spirit  of  Laws 
that  the  British  constitution  came  out  of  the  woods 
of  Germany. 

To  this  day  the  Teutonic  races  maintain  the 
same  noble  traits  that  Tacitus  describes  in  his  ad 
mirable  history  of  the  manners  and  character  of  the 
Germans.  We  may  therefore  say  that  the  friend 
whose  memory  we  honor  to-night  is  one  of  the 
elder  brethren  of  our  race.  He  came  to  America 
direct  from  our  fatherland,  and  not,  like  our  own 
fathers,  by  the  way  of  England. 

We  who  were  born  and  have  passed  all  our  lives 
in  this  wide  New  World  can  hardly  appreciate  the 
influences  that  surrounded  his  early  life.  Born  on 
the  borders  of  that  great  forest  of  Germany,  the 
Odenwald,  filled  as  it  is  with  the  memories  and 


464  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

traditions  of  centuries,  in  which  are  mingled 
Scandinavian  mythology,  legends  of  the  middle 
ages,  romances  of  feudalism  and  chivalry,  histories 
of  barons  and  kings,  and  the  struggles  of  a  brave 
people  for  a  better  civilization ;  reared  under  the 
institutions  of  a  strong,  semi-despotic  government ; 
devoting  his  early  life  to  personal  culture,  enter 
ing  at  an  early  age  the  University  of  Giessen, 
venerable  with  its  two  and  a  half  centuries  of  ex 
istence,  with  a  library  of  four  hundred  thousand 
volumes  at  his  hand,  with  a  great  museum  of  the 
curiosities  and  mysteries  of  nature  to  study,  he  fed 
his  eager  spirit  upon  the  rich  culture  which  that 
Old  World  could  give  him,  and  at  twenty-four 
years  of  age,  in  company  with  a  band  of  thirty- 
seven  young  students,  like  himself,  cultivated, 
earnest,  liberty-loving  almost  to  the  verge  of  com 
munism  —  and  who  of  us  would  not  be  communists 
in  a  despotism?  —  he  came  to  this  country,  at 
tracted  by  one  of  the  most  wild  and  romantic 
pictures  of  American  history,  the  picture  of  Texas 
as  it  existed  near  forty  years  ago  ;  the  country  dis 
covered  by  La  Salle  at  the  end  of  his  long  and 
perilous  voyage  from  Quebec  to  the  northern 
lakes  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ; 
the  country  possessed  alternately  by  the  Spanish 
and  the  French  and  then  by  Mexico  ;  the  country 
made  memorable  by  such  names  as  Blair,  Houston, 
Albert  Sidney  Johnson,  and  Mirabeau  Lamar,  per- 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  465 

haps  as  adventurous  and  daring  spirits  as  ever  as 
sembled  on  any  spot  of  the  earth  ;  a  country  that 
achieved  its  freedom  by  heroism  never  surpassed, 
and  which  maintained  its  perilous  independence  for 
ten  years  in  spite  of  border  enemies  and  European 
intrigues. 

It  is  said  that  a  society  was  formed  in  Europe 
embracing  in  its  membership  men  of  high  rank, 
even  members  of  royal  families,  for  the  purpose  of 
colonizing  the  new  Republic  of  the  Lone  Star,  and 
making  it  a  dependency  of  Europe  under  their 
patronage ;  but  without  sharing  in  their  designs, 
some  twenty  thousand  Germans  found  their  way 
to  the  new  Republic,  and  among  these  young 
Schleicher  came. 

[From  the  "  North  American  Review,"  March,  1879.] 

The  ballot  was  given  to  the  negro  not  so  much 
to  enable  him  to  govern  others  as  to  prevent  others 
from  misgoverning  him.  Suffrage  is  the  sword 
and  shield  of  our  law,  the  best  armament  that 
liberty  offers  to  the  citizen. 

[From  the  Same,  June,  1879.] 

If  our  republic  were  blotted  from  the  earth  and 
from  the  memory  of  mankind,  and  if  no  record  of 
its  history  survived,  except  a  copy  of  our  revenue 
laws  and  our  appropriation  bills  for  a  single  year, 
the  political  philosopher  would  be  able  from  these 


466  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

materials  alone  to  reconstruct  a  large  part  of  our 
history,  and  sketch  with  considerable  accuracy  the 
character  and  spirit  of  our  institutions. 

[Speech  in  Congress,  on  the  first  anniversary  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  death.] 

There  are  times  in  the  history  of  men  and 
nations  when  they  stand  so  near  the  veil  that  sep 
arates  mortals  and  immortals,  time  from  eternity, 
and  men  from  their  God,  that  they  can  almost 
hear  the  breathings,  and  feel  the  pulsations  of  the 
heart  of  the  Infinite.  Through  such  a  time  has 
this  nation  passed.  When  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  brave  spirits  passed  from  the  field  of 
honor  through  that  thin  veil  to  the  presence 
of  God,  and  when  at  last  its  parting  folds  ad 
mitted  the  martyred  President  to  the  company  of 
the  dead  heroes  of  the  republic,  the  nation  stood 
so  near  the  veil  that  the  whispers  of  God  were 
heard  by  the  children  of  men.  Awe-stricken  by 
his  voice,  the  American  people  knelt  in  tearful 
reverence,  and  made  a  solemn  covenant  with  God 
and  each  other  that  this  nation  should  be  saved 
from  its  enemies ;  that  all  its  glories  should  be 
restored,  and  on  the  ruins  of  slavery  and  treason 
the  temples  of  freedom  and  justice  should  be  built, 
and  stand  forever.  It  remains  for  us,  consecrated 
by  that  great  event,  and  under  that  covenant  with 
God,  to  keep  the  faith,  to  go  forward  in  the  great 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  467 

work  until  it  shall  be  completed.  Following  the 
lead  of  that  great  man,  and  obeying  the  high  be 
hests  of  God,  let  us  remember 

"He  has  sounded  forth  his  trumpet,  that  shall  never  call 
retreat ; 

He  is  sifting  out  the  hearts  of  men  before  his  judgment- 
seat; 

Be  swift,  my  soul,  to  answer  him ;  be  jubilant,  my  feet ; 
•        For  God  is  marching  on." 

Every  great  political  party  that  has  done  this 
country  any  good  has  given  to  it  some  immortal 
ideas  that  have  outlived  all  the  members  of  that 
party. 

[Speech  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  October  11,  1879.  —  Resump 
tion  of  Specie  Payments.] 

Now,  what  has  been  the  trouble  with  us? 
1860  was  one  shore  of  prosperity,  and  1879  the 
other ;  and  between  these  two  high  shores  haa 
flowed  the  broad,  deep,  dark  river  of  fire  and 
blood  and  disaster  through  which  this  nation  has 
been  compelled  to  wade,  and  in  whose  depths  it 
has  been  almost  suffocated  and  drowned.  In  the 
darkness  of  that  terrible  passage  we  carried  liberty 
in  our  arms  ;  we  bore  the  Union  on  our  shoulders ; 
and  we  bore  in  our  hearts  and  on  our  arms  what 
was  even  better  than  liberty  and  Union  —  we  bore 
the  faith,  and  honor,  and  public  trust  of  this 
mighty  Nation.  And  never,  until  we  came  up  out 


468  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

of  the  dark  waters,  out  of  the  darkness  of  that 
terrible  current,  and  planted  our  feet  upon  the 
solid  shore  of  1879 — never,  I  say,  till  then  could 
this  country  look  back  to  the  other  shore  and  feel 
that  its  feet  were  on  solid  ground,  and  then  look 
forward  to  the  rising  uplands  of  perpetual  peace 
and  prosperity  that  should  know  no  diminution 

in  the  years  to  come. 

• 

[Speech    at    Cleveland,    October    11,    1879.  — Appeal    to 
Young  Men.] 

Now,  I  tell  you,  young  man,  don't  vote  the 
Republican  ticket  just  because  your  father  votes 
it.  Don't  vote  the  Democratic  ticket,  even  if  he 
does  vote  it.  But  let  me  give  you  this  one  word 
of  advice,  as  you  are  about  to  pitch  your  tent  in 
one  of  the  great  political  camps.  Your  life  is  full 
and  buoyant  with  hope  now,  and  I  beg  you,  when 
you  pitch  your  tent,  pitch  it  among  the  living  and 
not  among  the  dead.  If  you  are  at  all  inclined  to 
pitch  it  among  the  Democratic  people  and  with 
that  party,  let  me  go  with  you  for  a  moment  while 
we  survey  the  ground  where  I  hope  you  will  not 
shortly  lie.  It  is  a  sad  place,  young  man,  for  you 
to  put  your  young  life  into.  It  is  to  me  far  more 
like  a  graveyard  than  like  a  camp  for  the  living. 
Look  at  it !  It  is  billowed  all  over  with  the  graves 
of  dead  issues,  of  buried  opinions,  of  exploded 
theories,  of  disgraced  doctrines.  You  cannot  live 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD,  469 

in  comfort  in  such  a  place.  Why,  look  here ! 
Here  is  a  little  double  mound.  I  look  down  on  it 
and  I  read,  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Squatter 
Sovereignty  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision."  A 
million  and  a  half  of  Democrats  voted  for  that,  but 
it  has  been  dead  fifteen  years  —  died  by  the  hand 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  here  it  lies.  Young  man, 
that  is  not  the  place  for  you. 

But  look  a  little  farther.  Here  is  another  mon 
ument  —  a  black  tomb  —  and  beside  it,  as  our 
distinguished  friend  said,  there  towers  to  the  sky 
a  monument  of  four  million  pairs  of  human  fetters 
taken  from  the  arms  of  slaves,  and  I  read  on  its 
little  headstone  this :  "  Sacred  to  the  memory  of 
human  slavery."  For  forty  years  of  its  infamous 
life  the  Democratic  party  taught  that  it  was  di 
vine  —  God's  institution.  They  defended  it,  they 
stood  around  it,  they  followed  it  to  its  grave  as  a 
mourner.  But  here  it  lies,  dead  by  the  hand  of 
Abraham  Lincoln.  Dead  by  the  power  of  the 
Republican  party.  Dead  by  the  justice  of  Al 
mighty  God.  Don't  camp  there,  young  man. 

But  here  is  another  —  a  little  brimstone  tomb 
—  and  I  read  across  its  yellow  face  in  lurid, 
bloody  lines  these  words  :  "  Sacred  to  the  memory 
of  State  Sovereignty  and  Secession."  Twelve  mil 
lions  of  Democrats  mustered  around  it  in  arms  to 
keep  it  alive ;  but  here  it  lies,  shot  to  death  by 
the  million  guns  of  the  Republic.  Here  it  lies,  its 


470  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

shrine  burnt  to  ashes  under  the  blazing  rafters  of 
the  burning  Confederacy.  It  is  dead  !  I  would 
not  have  you  stay  in  there  a  minute,  even  in  this 
balmy  night  air,  to  look  at  such  a  place. 

But  just  before  I  leave  it  I  discover  a  new-made 
grave,  a  little  mound  —  short.  The  grass  has 
hardly  sprouted  over  it,  and  all  around  it  I  see 
torn  pieces  of  paper  with  the  word  "fiat"  on  them, 
and  I  look  down  in  curiosity,  wondering  what  the 
little  grave  is,  and  I  read  on  it :  "  Sacred  to  the 
memory  of  the  Rag  Baby  nursed  in  the  brain  of 
all  the  fanaticism  of  the  world,  rocked  by  Thomas 
Ewing,  George  H.  Pendleton,  Samuel  Gary,  and 
a  few  others  throughout  the  land."  But  it  died 
on  the  1st  of  January,  1879,  and  the  one  hundred 
and  forty  millions  of  gold  that  God  made,  and  not 
fiat  power,  lie  upon  its  little  carcass  to  keep  it 
down  forever. 

Oh,  young  man,  come  out  of  that !  That  is  no 
place  in  which  to  put  your  young  life.  Come  out, 
and  come  over  into  this  camp  of  liberty,  of  order, 
of  law,  of  justice,  of  freedom,  of  all  that  is  glorious 
under  these  night  stars. 

Is  there  any  death  here  in  our  camp  ?  Yes ! 
yes  !  Three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  soldiers, 
the  noblest  band  that  ever  trod  the  earth,  died  to 
make  this  camp  a  camp  of  glory  and  of  liberty 
forever. 

But  there  are  no  dead  issues  here.     There  are 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD. 


471 


no  dead  ideas  here.  Hang  out  our  banner  from 
under  the  blue  sky  this  night  until  it  shall  sweep 
the  green  turf  under  your  feet !  It  hangs  over  our 
camp.  Read  away  up  under  the  stars  the  inscrip 
tion  we  have  written  on  it,  lo  !  these  twenty-five 
years. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  the  Eepublican  party  was 
married  to  Liberty,  and  this  is  our  silver  wedding, 
fellow-citizens.  A  worthily  married  pair  love  each 
other  better  on  the  day  of  their  silver  wedding 
than  on  the  day  of  their  first  espousals ;  and  we 
are  truer  to  Liberty  to-day,  and  dearer  to  God 
than  we  were  when  we  spoke  our  first  word  of 
liberty.  Eead  away  up  under  the  sky  across  our 
starry  banner  that  first  word  we  uttered  twenty- 
five  years  ago !  What  was  it  ?  "  Slavery  shall 
never  extend  over  another  foot  of  the  territories 
of  the  great  West."  Is  that  dead  or  alive  ?  Alive, 
thank  God,  forevermore  !  And  truer  to-night  than 
it  was  the  hour  it  was  written  !  Then,  it  was  a 
hope,  a  promise,  a  purpose.  To-night  it  is  equal 
with  the  stars  —  immortal  history  and  immortal 
truth. 

Come  down  the  glorious  steps  of  our  banner. 
Every  great  record  we  have  made  we  have  vindi 
cated  with  our  blood  and  with  our  truth.  It 
sweeps  the  ground,  and  it  touches  the  stars.  Come 
there,  young  man,  and  put  in  your  young  life 
where  all  is  living,  and  where  nothing  is  dead  but 


472  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  heroes  that  defended  it !     I  think  these  young 
men  will  do  that. 

[From  a  Speech,  January  14,  1880.] 

I  say,  moreover,  that  the  flowers  that  bloom 
over  the  garden-wall  of  party  politics  are  the 
sweetest  and  most  fragrant  that  bloom  in  the  gai- 
dens  of  this  world,  and  where  we  can  fairly  pluck 
them  and  enjoy  their  fragrance,  it  is  manly  and 
delightful  to  do  so. 

[Letter  of  Acceptance,  July  10,  1880.] 

Next  in  importance  to  freedom  and  justice  is 
popular  education,  without  which  neither  justice 
nor  freedom  can  be  permanently  maintained.  Its 
interests  are  intrusted  to  the  States,  and  to  the 
voluntary  action  of  the  people.  Whatever  help 
the  Nation  can  justly  afford  should  be  generously 
given  to  aid  the  States  in  supporting  common 
schools  ;  but  it  would  be  unjust  to  our  people,  and 
dangerous  to  our  institutions,  to  apply  any  portion 
of  the  revenues  of  the  Nation  or  of  the  States  to 
the  support  of  sectarian  schools.  The  separation 
of  the  Church  and  the  State  hi  everything  relating 
to  taxation  should  be  absolute. 

Our  country  cannot  be  independent  unless  its 
people,  with  their  abundant  natural  resources, 
possess  the  requisite  skill  at  any  time  to  clothe, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  473 

arm,  and  equip  themselves  for  war,  and  in  time  of 
peace  to  produce  all  the  necessary  implements  of 
labor.  It  was  the  manifest  intention  of  the  found 
ers  of  the  Government  to  provide  for  the  common 
defence,  not  by  standing  armies  alone,  but  by  rais 
ing  among  the  people  a  greater  army  of  artisans, 
whose  intelligence  and  skill  should  powerfully  con 
tribute  to  the  safety  and  glory  of  the  nation. 

Over  this  vast  horizon  of  interests,  North  and 
South,  above  all  party  prejudices  and  personal 
wrong-doing,  above  our  battle  hosts  and  our  vic 
torious  cause,  above  all  that  we  hoped  for  and  won, 
or  you  hoped  for  and  lost,  is  the  grand  onward 
movement  of  the  Republic  to  perpetuate  its  glory, 
to  save  Liberty  alive,  to  preserve  exact  and  equal 
justice  to  all,  to  protect  and  foster  all  these  price 
less  principles  until  they  shall  have  crystallized 
into  the  form  of  enduring  law  and  become  in 
wrought  into  the  life  and  habits  of  our  People. 


I  look  forward  with  joy  and  hope  to  the  day 
when  our  brave  people,  one  in  heart,  one  in  their 
aspirations  for  freedom  and  peace,  shall  see  that 
the  darkness  through  which  we  have  travelled 
was  but  a  part  of  that  stern  but  beneficent  disci 
pline  by  which  the  great  Disposer  of  events  has  been 
leading  us  on  to  a  higher  and  nobler  national  life. 

The  hope  of  our  National  perpetuity  rests  upon 


474  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

that  perfect  individual  Freedom  which  shall  forever 
keep  up  the  circuit  of  perpetual  change. 


Whatever  opinions  we  may  now  entertain  of  the 
Federalists  as  a  party,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that 
we  are  indebted  to  them  for  the  strong  points  of  the 
Constitution  and  for  the  stable  government  they 
founded  and  strengthened  during  the  administra 
tion  of  Washington  and  Adams. 

While  it  is  true  that  no  party  can  stand  upon  its 
past  record  alone,  yet  it  is  also  true  that  its  past 
shows  the  spirit  and  character  of  the  organization, 
and  enables  us  to  judge  what  it  will  probably  do 
in  the  future. 

Parties  have  an  organic  life  and  spirit  of  their 
own  —  an  individuality  and  character  which  out 
live  the  men  who  compose  them ;  and  the  spirit 
and  traditions  of  a  party  should  be  considered  in 
determining  their  fitness  for  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  nation. 

It  is  a  safe  and  wise  rule  to  follow  in  all  legisla 
tion,  that  whatever  the  people  can  do  without  legis 
lation  will  be  better  done  than  by  the  intervention 
of  the  State  and  Nation. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  475 


[From  a  Speech,  at  the  unveiling  of  a  Soldiers'  Monument, 
Painesville,  Ohio,  July  4,  1880.] 

I  once  entered  a  house  in  old  Massachusetts, 
where  over  its  doors  were  two  crossed  swords. 
One  was  the  sword  carried  by  the  grandfather  of 
its  owner  on  the  field  of  Bunker  Hill,  and  the 
other  was  the  sword  carried  by  the  English  grand- 
sire  of  the  wife  on  the  same  field,  and  on  the  other 
side  of  the  conflict.  Under  those  crossed  swords, 
in  the  restored  harmony  of  domestic  peace,  lived 
a  happy  and  contented  and  free  family,  under  the 
light  of  our  republican  liberties.  I  trust  the  time 
is  not  far  distant  when,  under  the  crossed  swords 
and  the  locked  shields  of  Americans,  north  and 
south,  our  people  shall  sleep  in  peace  and  rise  in 
liberty,  love,  and  harmony,  under  the  union  of 
our  flag  of  the  stars  and  stripes. 

[Speech  to  a  Delegation  of  four  hundred  Young  Men  — 
First  Voters  — of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  at  Mentor,  October  8, 

1880.] 

I  have  not  so  far  left  the  coast  of  youth 

to  travel  inland  but  that  I  can  very  well  remember 
the  state  of  young  manhood,  from  an  experience 
in  it  of  some  years,  and  there  is  nothing  to  me  in 
this  world  so  inspiring  as  the  possibilities  that  lie 
locked  up  in  the  head  and  breast  of  a  young  man. 
The  hopes  that  lie  before  him,  the  great  inspira* 


476  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

tions  around  him,  the  great  aspirations  above  him, 
all  these  things,  with  the  untried  pathway  of  life 
opening  up  its  difficulties  and  dangers,  inspire  him 
to  courage,  and  force,  and  work. 

[From  a  Speech  in  New  York,  August  6,  1880.] 

Ideas  outlive  men.      Ideas   outlive  all 

things,  and  you  who  fought  in  the  war  for  the 
Union  fought  for  immortal  ideas,  and  by  their 
might  you  crowned  our  war  with  victory.  But 
victory  was  worth  nothing  except  for  the  fruits 
that  were  under  it,  in  it,  and  above  it.  We  meet 
to-night  as  veterans  and  comrades,  ,to  stand  sacred 
guard  around  the  truths  for  which  we  fought,  and 
while  we  have  life  to  meet  and  grasp  the  hands  of 
a  comrade,  we  will  stand  by  the  great  truths  of  the 
war  ;  and,  comrades,  among  the  convictions  of  that 
war  which  have  sunk  deep  in  our  hearts  there  are 
some  that  we  can  never  forget.  Think  of  the 
great  elevating  spirit  of  the  war  itself.  We  gath 
ered  the  boys  from  all  our  farms,  and  shops,  and 
stores,  and  schools,  and  homes,  from  all  over  the 
Republic,  and  they  went  forth  unknown  to  fame, 
but  returned  enrolled  on  the  roster  of  immortal 
heroes.  They  went  in  the  spirit  of  those  soldiers 
of  Henry  at  Agincourt,  of  whom  he  said,  "  Who 
this  day  sheds  his  blood  with  me,  to-day  shall  be 
my  brother.  Were  he  ne'er  so  vile,  this  day  shall 
gentle  his  condition ;  "  and  it  did  gentle  the  condi- 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  477 

tion  and  elevate  the  heart  of  every  working  sol 
dier  who  fought  in  it,  and  he  shall  be  our  brother 
for  evermore  ;  and  this  thing  we  will  remember ; 
we  will  remember  our  allies  who  fought  with  us. 
Soon  after  the  great  struggle  began  we  looked  be 
hind  the  army  of  white  rebels  and  saw  4,000,000 
of  black  people  condemned  to  toil  as  slaves  for  our 
enemies,  and  we  found  that  the  hearts  of  this 
4,000,000  were  God-inspired  with*  the  spirit  of 
freedom,  and  that  they  were  our  friends.  We 
have  seen  white  men  betray  the  flag  and  fight  to 
kill  the  Union,  but  in  all  that  long,  dreary  war  we 
never  saw  a  traitor  in  a  black  skin.  Our  prisoners, 
escaping  from  the  starvation  of  prison,  and  fleeing 
to  our  lines  by  the  light  of  the  North-star,  never 
feared  to  enter  the  black  man's  cabin  and  ask  for 
bread.  In  all  that  period  of  suffering  and  danger 
no  Union  soldier  was  ever  betrayed  by  a  black  man 
or  woman,  and  now  that  we  have  made  them  free, 
so  long  as  we  live  we  will  stand  by  these  black 
citizens.  We  will  stand  by  them  until  the  sun  of 
liberty,  fixed  in  the  firmament  of  our  Constitution, 
shall  shine  with  equal  rays  upon  every  man,  black 
or  white,  throughout  the  Union.  Now,  fellow- 
citizens,  fellow-soldiers,  in  this  there  is  all  the 
beneficence  of  eternal  justice,  and  by  this  we  will 
stand  forever, 


478  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

[Remarks  at  Chatauqua,  August  1,  1880.] 

I  would  rather  be  defeated  than  make  capital 
out  of  my  religion. 

[From  an  Address  at  the  Anniversary  of  Hiram  College, 
directly  after  the  Chicago  Convention,  1880.] 

FELLOW-CITIZENS,  NEIGHBORS,  AND  FRIENDS  OF 
MANY  YEARS  :  It  always  has  given  me  pleasure  to 
come  back  here  and  look  upon  these  faces.  It  has 
always  given  me  new  courage  and  new  friends.  It 
has  brought  back  a  large  share  of  that  richness 
that  belongs  to  those  things  out  of  which  come  the 
joys  of  life.  While  I  have  been  sitting  here  this 
afternoon,  watching  your  faces  and  listening  to  the 
very  interesting  address  which  has  just  been  de 
livered,  it  occurred  to  me  that  the  best  thing  you 
have  that  all  men  envy  —  I  mean  all  men  who 
have  reached  the  meridian  of  life  —  is,  perhaps, 
the  thing  that  you  care  for  less,  and  that  is  your 
leisure,  —  the  leisure  you  have  to  think ;  the 
leisure  you  have  to  be  let  alone ;  the  leisure  you 
have  to  throw  the  plummet  with  your  hand,  and 
sound  their  depths  and  find  out  what  is  below ; 
the  leisure  you  have  to  walk  about  the  towers  of 
yourselves,  and  find  how  strong  they  are,  or  how 
weak  they  are,  and  determine  what  needs  building 
up,  and  determine  how  to  shape  them,  that  you 
may  make  the  final  being  that  you  are  to  be.  Oh, 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  479 

these  hours  of  building !  If  the  superior  beings 
of  the  universe  would  look  down  upon  the  world 
to  find  the  most  interesting  object,  it  would  be  the 
unfinished,  unformed  character  of  }roung  men,  or 
of  young  women.  These  behind  me  have,  proba 
bly,  in  the  main  settled  such  questions.  Those 
who  have  passed  into  middle  manhood  and  middle 
womanhood  are  about  what  they  shall  always  be, 
and  there  is  little  left  of  interest  or  curiosity  as  to 
our  development.  But  to  your  young  and  yet 
uninformed  natures  no  man  knows  the  possibilities 
that  lie  treasured  up  in  your  hearts  and  intellects  ; 
and  while  you  are  working  up  these  possibilities 
with  that  splendid  leisure,  you  are  the  most  envied 
of  all  classes  of  men  and  women  in  the  world.  I 
congratulate  you  on  your  leisure.  I  commend  you 
to  keep  it  as  your  gold,  as  your  wealth,  as  your 
means,  out  of  which  you  can  demand  all  the  pos 
sible  treasures  that  God  laid  down  when  He 
formed  your  nature,  and  unveiled  and  devel 
oped  the  possibility  of  your  future.  This  place  is 
too  full  of  memories  for  me  to  trust  myself  to  speak 
upon,  and  I  will  not ;  but  I  draw  again  to-day, 
as  I  have  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  evidences  of 
strength  and  affection  from  the  people  who  gather 
in  this  place,  and  I  thank  you  for  the  permission 
to  see  you,  and  meet  you,  and  greet  you,  as  I 
have  done  to-day. 


480  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 


THE   INAUGURAL   ADDRESS. 

PRESIDENT  GARFIELD'S  FIRST  OFFICIAL  WORDS  TO 
THE  COUNTRY. 

FELLOW  CITIZENS, — We  stand  to-day  upon  an 
eminence  which  overlooks  a  hundred  years  of 
national  life,  a  century  crowded  with  perils,  but 
crowned  with  the  triumphs  of  liberty  and  law. 
Before  continuing  the  onward  march,  let  us  pause 
on  this  height  for  a  moment  to  strengthen  our 
faith  and  renew  our  hope  by  a  glance  at  the  path 
way  along  which  our  people  have  travelled.  It  is 
now  three  days  more  than  a  hundred  years  since 
the  adoption  of  the  first  written  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  the  articles  of  confederation  and 
perpetual  union.  The  new  Republic  was  then 
beset  .with  danger  on  every  hand.  It  had  not 
conquered  a  place  in  the  family  of  nations.  The 
decisive  battle  of  the  war  for  independence,  whose 
centennial  anniversary  will  soon  be  gratefully 
celebrated  at  Yorktown,  had  not  yet  been  fought. 
The  colonists  were  struggling  not  only  against  the 
armies  of  a  great  nation,  but  against  the  settled 
opinions  of  mankind,  for  the  world  did  not  believe 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  481 

that  the  supreme  authority  of  government  could  be 
safely  intrusted  to  the  guardianship  of  the  people 
themselves.  We  cannot  overestimate  the  fervent 
love  of  liberty,  the  intelligent  courage  and  the 
saving  common  sense  with  which  our  fathers  made 
the  great  experiment  of  self-government.  When 
they  found,  after  a  short  trial,  that  the  confederacy 
of  States  was  too  weak  to  meet  the  necessities  of 
a  vigorous  and  expanding  republic,  they  boldly 
set  it  aside,  and  in  its  stead  established  a  national 
union  founded  directly  upon  the  will  of  the 
people,  endowed  with  future  powers  of  self- 
preservation,  and  with  ample  authority  for  the 
accomplishment  of  its  great  objects.  Under  this 
Constitution  the  boundaries  of  freedom  have  been 
enlarged,  the  foundations  of  order  and  peace  have 
been  strengthened,  and  the  growth  in  all  the 
better  elements  of  national  life  has  vindicated  the 
wisdom  of  the  founders,  and  given  new  hopes  to 
their  descendants.  Under  this  Constitution  our 
people  long  ago  made  themselves  safe  against 
danger  from  without,  and  secured  for  their  mari 
ners  and  flag  equality  of  rights  on  all  the  seas. 
Under  this  Constitution  twenty-five  States  have 
been  added  to  the  Union,  with  constitutions  and 
laws  framed  and  enforced  by  their  own  citizens  to 
secure  the  manifold  blessings  of  local  self-govern 
ment.  The  jurisdiction  of  this  Constitution  now 
covers  an  area  fifty  times  greater  than  that  of  the 


482  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

original  thirteen  States,  and  a  population  twenty 
times  greater  than  that  of  1780.  The  supreme 
trial  of  the  Constitution  came  at  last  under  the 
tremendous  pressure  of  civil  war.  We  ourselves 
are  witnesses  that  the  Union  emerged  from  the 
blood  and  fire  of  that  conflict  purified  and  made 
stronger  for  all  the  beneficent  purposes  of  good 
government. 

And  now,  at  the  close  of  this  first  century  of 
growth,  with  the  inspirations  of  its  history  in  their 
hearts,  our  people  have  lately  reviewed  the  condi 
tion  of  their  nation,  passed  judgment  upon  the 
conduct  and  opinions  of  political  parties,  and  have 
registered  their  will  concerning  the  future  admin 
istration  of  the  Government.  To  interpret  and  to 
execute  that  will  in  accordance  with  the  Constitu 
tion  is  the  paramount  duty  of  the  Executive. 
Even  from  this  brief  review  it  is  manifest  that  the 
nation  is  resolutely  facing  to  the  front,  resolved  to 
employ  its  best  energies  in  developing  the  great 
possibilities  of  the  future.  Sacredly  preserving 
whatever  has  been  gained  to  liberty  and  good 
government  during  the  century,  our  people  are 
determined  to  leave  behind  them  all  those  bitter 
controversies,  including  things  which  have  been 
irrevocably  settled,  and  the  further  discussion  of 
which  can  only  stir  up  strife  and  delay  the  onward 
march.  The  supremacy  of  the  nation  and  its 
laws  should  be  no  longer  a  subject  of  debate. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  483 

That  discussion  which  for  half  a  century  threat 
ened  the  existence  of  the  Union  was  closed  at  last 
in  the  high  court  of  war  by  a  decree  from  which 
there  is  no  appeal,  that  the  Constitution  and  the 
laws  made  in  pursuance  thereof  are  and  shall 
continue  to  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  bind 
ing  alike  upon  the  States  and  the  people.  This 
decree  does  not  disturb  the  autonomy  of  the  States 
nor  interfere  with  any  of  their  necessary  rules  of 
local  self-government,  but  it  does  fix  and  establish 
the  permanent  supremacy  of  the  Union.  The 
will  of  the  nation  speaking  with  the  voice  of  battle 
and  through  the  amended  Constitution  has  fulfilled 
the  great  promise  of  1776  by  proclaiming  "  Liberty 
throughout  the  land  to  all  the  inhabitants  thereof." 
The  elevation  of  the  negro  race  from  slavery  to 
the  full  rights  of  citizenship  is  the  most  important 
political  change  we  have  known  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  of  1787.  No  thoughtful  man 
can  fail  to  appreciate  its  beneficent  effect  upon  our 
institutions  and  people.  It  has  freed  us  from  the 
perpetual  danger  of  war  and  dissolution.  It  has 
added  immensely  to  the  moral  and  industrial  forces 
of  our  people.  It  has  liberated  the  master  as  well 
as  the  slave  from  a  relation  which  wronged  and 
enfeebled  both.  It  has  surrendered  to  their  own 
guardianship  the  manhood  of  more  than  5,000,000 
of  people,  and  has  opened  to  each  one  of  them  a 
career  of  freedom  and  usefulness.  It  has  given 


484  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

new  inspiration  to  the  power  of  self-help  in  both 
races,  by  making  labor  more  honorable  to  the  one 
and  more  necessary  to  the  other.  The  influence 
of  this  force  will  grow  greater  and  bear  richer 
fruit  with  the  coming  years.  No  doubt  the  great 
change  has  caused  serious  disturbance  to  our 
Southern  community.  This  is  to  be  deplored, 
though  it  was  unavoidable.  But  those  who  resisted 
the  change  should  remember,  that  under  our 
institutions  there  was  no  middle  ground  for  the 
negro  race  between  slavery  and  equal  citizenship. 
There  can  be  no  permanent  disfranchised  peasantry 
in  the  United  States ;  freedom  can  never  yield  its 
fullness  of  blessings  so  long  as  the  law  or  its 
administration  places  the  smallest  obstacles  in  the 
pathway  of  any  virtuous  citizen.  The  emanci 
pated  race  has  already  made  remarkable  progress  ; 
with  unquestioning  devotion  to  the  Union,  with  a 
patience  and  gentleness  not  born  of  fear,  they 
have  "  followed  the  light  as  God  gave  them  to  see 
the  light."  They  are  rapidly  laying  the  material 
foundations  for  self-support,  widening  the  circle  of 
intelligence,  and  beginning  to  enjoy  the  blessings 
that  gather  around  the  homes  of  industrious  poor. 
They  deserve  the  generous  encouragement  of  all 
good  men.  So  far  as  my  authority  can  lawfully 
extend,  they  shall  enjoy  the  full  and  equal  pro 
tection  of  the  Constitution  and  the  laws. 

The  free  enjoyment  of  equal  suffrage  is  still  in 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  485 

question,  and  a  frank  statement  of  the  issue  may 
aid  its  solution.  It  is  alleged,  that  in  many  com 
munities  negro  citizens  are  practically  denied  the 
freedom  of  the  ballot.  In  so  far  as  the  truth  of 
this  allegation  is  admitted,  it  is  answered,  that  in 
many  places  honest  local  government  is  impossible 
if  the  mass  of  uneducated  negroes  are  allowed  to 
vote.  These  are  grave  allegations.  So  far  as  the 
latter  is  true,  it  is  the  only  palliation  that  can  be 
offered  for  opposing  the  freedom  of  the  ballot. 
Bad  local  government  is  certainly  a  great  evil 
which  ought  to  be  prevented,  but  to  violate  the 
freedom  and  sanctity  of  the  suffrage  is  more  than 
an  evil ;  it  is  a  crime,  which,  if  persisted  in,  will 
destroy  the  government  itself.  Suicide  is  not  a 
remedy.  If  in  other  lands  it  be  high  treason  to 
compass  the  death  of  the  king,  it  should  be 
counted  no  less  a  crime  here  to  strangle  our 
sovereign  power  and  stifle  its  voice.  It  has  been 
said  that  unsettled  questions  have  no  pity  for  the 
repose  of  nations.  It  should  be  said,  with  the 
utmost  emphasis,  that  this  question  of  the  suffrage 
will  never  give  repose  or  safety  to  the  States  of 
the  nation,  until  each,  within  its  own  jurisdiction, 
makes,  and  keeps  the  ballot  free  and  pure  by  the 
strong  sanctions  of  the  law.  But  the  danger  which 
arises  from  ignorance  in  the  voter  cannot  be  denied. 
It  covers  a  field  far  wider  than  that  of  negro 
suffrage  and  the  present  condition  of  that  race.  It 


486  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

is  a  danger  that  lurks  and  hides  in  the  sources  and 
fountains  of  power  in  every  State.  We  have  no 
standard  by  which  to  measure  the  disaster  that 
may  be  brought  upon  us  by  ignorance  and  vice  in 
the  citizens,  whenjoined  to  corruption  and  fraud 
in  the  suffrage.  The  voters  of  the  Union  who 
make  and  unmake  constitutions,  and  upon  whom 
will  hang  the  destinies  of  our  governments,  can 
transmit  their  supreme  authority  to  no  successor 
save  the  coming  generation  of  voters,  who  are  the 
sole  heirs  of  sovereign  power.  If  that  generation 
comes  to  its  inheritance  blinded  by  ignorance  and 
corrupted  by  vice,  the  fall  of  the  republic  will  be 
certain  and  remediless.  The  census  has  already 
sounded  the  alarm,  in  the  appalling  figures  which 
mark  how  dangerously  high  the  tide  of  illiteracy 
has  risen  among  our  voters  and  their  children. 
To  the  South,  this  question  is  of  supreme  impor 
tance,  but  the  responsibility  for  the  existence  of 
slavery  did  not  rest  upon  the  South  alone  ;  the 
nation  itself  is  responsible  for  the  extension  of  the 
suffrage,  and  is  under  special  obligations  to  aid  in 
removing  the  illiteracy  which  it  has  added  to  the 
voting  population. 

For  the  North  and  South  alike  there  is  but  one 
remedy.  All  the  constitutional  power  of  the 
nation  and  of  the  States,  and  all  the  volunteer 
forces  of  the  people,-  should  be  summoned  to  meet 
this  danger  by  the  saving  influence  of  universal 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  487 

education.  It  is  the  high  privilege  and  sacred 
duty  of  those  now  living  to  educate  their  succes 
sors,  and  fit  them  by  intelligence  and  virtue,  for 
the  inheritance  which  awaits  them.  In  this 
beneficent  work,  sections  and  races  should  be 
forgotten,  and  partisanship  should  be  unknown. 
Let  our  people  find  a  new  meaning  in  the  Divine 
oracle  which  declares  that  "  a  little  child  shall  lead 
them,"  for  our  little  children  will  soon  control  the 
destinies  of  the  republic. 

My  countrymen,  we  do  not  now  differ  in  our 
judgment  concerning  the  controversies  of  past 
generations,  and  fifty  years  hence  our  children 
will  not  be  divided  in  their  opinions  concerning 
our  controversies.  They  will  surely  bless  th'eir 
fathers  and  their  fathers'  God  that  the  Union  was 
preserved,  that  slavery  was  overthrown,  and  that 
both  races  were  made  equal  before  the  law.  We 
may  hasten  or  we  may  retard,  but  we  cannot  pre 
vent  the  final  reconciliation.  Is  it  not  possible 
for  us  now  to  make  a  truce  with  time  by  anticipat 
ing  and  accepting  its  inevitable  verdict?  Enter 
prises  of  the  highest  importance  to  our  moral  and 
material  "well-being  invite  us  and  offer  ample  scope 
for  the  employment  of  our  best  powers.  Let  all 
our  people,  leaving  behind  them  the  battle-fields 
of  dead  issues,  move  forward,  and  in  the  strength 
of  liberty  and  the  restored  Union  win  the  grander 
victories  of  peace. 


488  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

The  prosperity  which  now  prevails  is  without 
a  parallel  in  our  history ;  fruitful  seasons  have 
done  much  to  secure  it,  but  they  have  not  done  all. 
The  preservation  of  the  public  credit  and  the  re 
sumption  of  specie  payments,  so  successfully  at 
tained  by  the  administration  of  my  predecessor, 
has  enabled  our  people  to  secure  the  blessings 
which  the  seasons  brought.  By  the  experience  of 
commercial  nations  in  all  ages  it  has  been  found 
that  gold  and  silver  afford  the  only  safe  foundation 
for  a  monetary  system.  Confusion  has  recently 
been  created  by  variations  in  the  relative  value 
of  the  two  metals.  But  I  confidently  believe  that 
arrangements  can  be  made  between  the  leading 
commercial  nations  which  will  secure  the  general 
use  of  both  metals.  Congress  should  provide  that 
the  compulsory  coinage  of  silver,  now  required  by 
law,  may  not  disturb  our  monetary  system  by 
driving  either  metal  out  of  circulation.  If  possi 
ble,  such  an  adjustment  should  be  made  that  the 
purchasing  power  of  every  coined  dollar  will  be 
exactly  equal  to  its  debt-paying  power  in  all  the 
markets  of  the  world.  The  chief  duty  of  the 
national  government  in  connection  with  the  cur 
rency  of  the  country  is  to  coin  and  declare  its 
value.  Grave  doubts  have  been  entertained 
whether  Congress  is  authorized  by  the  Constitu 
tion  to  make  any  form  of  paper  money  legal 
tender.  The  present  issue  of  United  States  notes 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  489 

has  been  sustained  by  the  necessities  of  war,  but 
such  paper  should  depend  for  its  value  and  cur 
rency  upon  its  convenience  in  use,  and  its  prompt 
redemption  in  coin  at  the  will  of  its  holder,  and 
not  upon  its  compulsory  circulation.  These  notes 
are  not  money,  but  promises  to  pay  money  if  the 
holders  demand  it.  These  promises  should  be 
kept. 

The  refunding  of  the  national  debt  at  a  lower 
rate  of  interest  should  be  accomplished  without 
compelling  the  withdrawal  of  the  national  bank 
notes  and  thus  disturbing  the  business  of  the 
country.  I  venture  to  refer  to  the  position  I  have 
occupied  on  financial  questions  during  a  long 
service  in  Congress,  and  to  say  that  time  and  ex 
perience  have  strengthened  the  opinions  I  have  so 
often  expressed  on  these  subjects.  The  finances 
of  the  government  shall  suffer  no  detriment  which 
it  may  be  possible  for  my  administration  to  pre 
vent. 

The  interests  of  agriculture  deserve  more 
attention  from  the  government  than  they  have  yet 
received.  The  farms  of  the  United  States  afford 
homes  and  employment  for  more  than  one-half  our 
people,  and  furnish  much  the  largest  part  of  all 
our  exports.  As  the  government  lights  our  coasts 
for  the  protection  of  mariners  and  the  benefit  of 
commerce,  so  it  should  give  to  the  tillers  of  the 
•^il  the  lights  of  practical  science  and  experience. 


490  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OP 

Our  manufactures  are  rapidly  making  us  indus 
trially  independent,  and  are  opening  to  capital  and 
labor  new  and  profitable  fields  of  employment. 
This  steady  and  healthy  growth  should  still  be 
maintained.  Our  facilities  for  transportation  should 
be  promoted  by  the  continued  improvement  of  our 
harbors  and  great  interior  waterways,  and  by  the 
increase  of  our  tonnage  on  the  ocean.  The 
development  of  the  world's  commerce  has  led  to 
an  urgent  demand  for  shortening  the  great  sea 
voyage  around  Cape  Horn,  by  constructing  ship 
eanals  or  railways  across  the  isthmus  which  unites 
the  two  continents.  Various  plans  to  this  end 
have  been  suggested,  and  will  need  consideration, 
but  none  of  them  have  been  sufficiently  matured 
to  warrant  the  United  States  in  extending  pecu 
niary  aid.  The  subject,  however,  is  one  which 
will  immediately  engage  the  attention  of  the 
government,  with  a  view  to  a  thorough  protection 
to  American  interests.  We  will  urge  no  narrow 
policy,  nor  seek  peculiar  or  exclusive  privileges 
on  any  commercial  route,  but,  in  the  language  of 
my  predecessor,  I  believe  it  to  be  the  right  and 
duty  of  the  United  States  to  assert  and  maintain 
such  supervision  and  authority  over  any  inter- 
oceanic  canal  across  the  isthmus  that  connects 
North  and  South  America,  as  will  protect  our 
national  interests. 

The  Constitution  guarantees  absolute  religious 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  491 

freedom.  Congress  is  prohibited  from  making 
any  law  respecting  an  establishment  of  religion, 
or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof.  The 
territories  of  the  United  States  are  subject  to  the 
direct  legislative  authority  of  Congress,  and  hence 
the  general  government  is  responsible  for  any 
violation  of  the  Constitution  in  any  of  them.  It 
is  therefore  a  reproach  to  the  government,  that  in 
the  most  populous  of  the  territories  the  consti 
tutional  guarantee  is  not  enjoyed  by  the  people, 
and  the  authority  of  Congress  is  set  at  naught. 
The  Mormon  Church  not  only  offends  the  moral 
sense  of  mankind  by  sanctioning  polygamy,  but 
prevents  the  administration  of  justice  through  the 
ordinary  instrumentalities  of  law.  In  my  judg 
ment,  it  is  the  duty  of  Congress,  while  respecting 
to  the  uttermost  the  conscientious  convictions  and 
religious  scruples  of  every  citizen,  to  prohibit, 
within  its  jurisdiction,  all  immoral  practices, 
especially  of  that  class  which  destroy  the  family 
relations  and  endanger  social  order.  Nor  can  any 
ecclesiastical  organization  be  safely  permitted  to 
usurp,  in  the  smallest  degree,  the  functions  and 
powers  of  the  national  government. 

The  civil  service  can  never  be  placed  on  a 
satisfactory  basis,  until  it  is  regulated  by  law. 
For  the  good  of  the  service  itself,  for  the  protec 
tion  of  those  who  are  entrusted  with  this  appointing 
power,  against  the  waste  of  time  and  obstruction 


492  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

to  the  public  business,  caused  by  the  inordinate 
pressure  for  place,  and  for  the  protection  of 
incumbents  against  intrigue  and  wrong,  I  shall  at 
the  proper  time  ask  Congress  to  fix  the  tenure  of 
the  minor  offices  of  the  several  executive  depart 
ments,  and  prescribe  the  grounds  upon  which 
removals  shall  be  made  during  terms  for  which 
incumbents  have  been  appointed. 

Finally,  acting  always  within  the  authority 
and  limitations  of  the  Constitution,  invading 
neither  the  rights  of  the  States  nor  the  reserved 
rights  of  the  people,  it  will  be  the  purpose  of  my 
administration  to  maintain  its  authority,  and  in  all 
places  within  its  jurisdiction  to  enforce  obedience 
to  all  laws  of  the  Union  in  the  interest  of  the 
people,  to  demand  rigid  economy  in  all  expendi 
tures  of  the  government,  and  to  require  the 
honest  and  faithful  service  of  all  executive  officers, 
remembering  that  the  offices)  were  created,  not  for 
the  benefit  of  the  incumbents  or  their  supporters, 
but  for  the  service  of  the  government.  And  now, 
fellow  citizens,  I  am  about  to  assume  the  great 
trust  which  you  have  committed  to  my  hands.  I 
appeal  to  you  for  that  earnest  and  thoughtful 
support,  which  makes  this  government,  in  fact  as 
it  is  in  law,  a  government  of  the  people.  I  shall 
greatly  rely  upon  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of 
Congress,  and  of  those  who  may  share  with  me 
the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  administration ; 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  493 

and  above  all,  upon  our  efforts  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  this  great  people  and  their  government, 
I  reverentially  invoke  the  support  and  blessings  of 
Almighty  God. 


494  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OP 


ADDENDA. 


I. 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPT.  OF  THE  CUMBERLAND, 

MURFREESBORO,  June  12,  1864. 

General:  In  your  confidential  letter  of  the  8th 
inst.,  to  the  corps  and  division  commanders  and 
generals  of  cavalry,  of  this  army,  there  were  sub 
stantially  five  questions  propounded  for  their  con 
sideration  and  answer,  viz  :  — 

1.  Has  the  enemy  of  our  front  been  materially 
weakened  by  detachments  to  Johnston,  or  else 
where  ? 

2.  Can  this  army  advance  on  him  at  this  time, 
with  strong  reasonable  chances  of  fighting  a  great 
and  successful  battle  ? 

3.  Do  you  think  an  advance  of  our  army  at 
present    likely  to   prevent    additional    reinforce 
ments  being  sent  against  General  Grant  by  the 
enemy  in  our  front  ? 

4.  Do  you  think  an  immediate  advance  of  the 
army  advisable  ? 


JAMES   A.    GAKFIELD.  495 

5.    Do  you  think  an  early  advance  advisable? 

Many  of  the  answers  to  these  questions  are  not 
categorical,  and  cannot  be  clearly  set  down  either 
as  affirmative  or  negative.  Especially  in  answer 
to  the  first  question,  there  is  much  indefiniteness 
resulting  from  the  difference  of  judgment  as  to 
how  great  a  detachment  could  be  considered  a 
material  reduction  of  Bragg' s  strength.  For  ex 
ample,  one  officer  thinks  it  has  been  reduced  ten 
thousand  and  not  "  materially  weakened."  The 
answers  to  the  second  question  are  modified  in 
some  instances  by  the  opinion  that  the  rebels  will 
fall  back  behind  the  Tennessee  River,  and  thus  no 
battle  can  be  fought,  either  successful  or  unsuc 
cessful. 

So  far  as  these  opinions  can  be  stated  in  tabu 
lar  form,  they  will  stand  thus,  — 

Yes.  No. 

Answer  to  first  question,       ...        6  11 

"   second  "              ...        2  11 

"  third     "              ...        4  10 

"        "   fourth   "              ...-  15 

"        "  fifth       "             ...        -  2 

On  the  fifth  question,  three  gave  it  as  their 
opinion  that  this  army  ought  to  advance  as  soon  as 
Vicksburg  falls,  should  that  event  happen.  The 
following  is  a  summary  of  the  reasons  assigned 
why  we  should  not  at  this  time  advance  upon  the 
enemy  :  — 


49G  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

1.  With  Hooker's  army  defeated,  and  Grant's 
bending  all  its  energies  in  a  yet  undecided  strug 
gle,  it  is  bad  policy  to  risk  our  only  reserve  army 
to  the  chances  of  a  general  engagement.     A  fail 
ure  here  would  have  most  disastrous  effect  on  our 
lines  of  communication  and  on  politics  in  the  loyal 
States. 

2.  We  should  be  compelled  to  fight  the  enemy 
on  his  own  grounds  or  follow  him  in  a  fruitless 
chase ;  or,  if  we  attempted  to  outflank  him  and 
turn  his  position,  we  should  expose  our   line  of 
communication,  and  run  the  risk  of  being  pushed 
back  into   a   rough    country  well   known   to   the 
enemy  and  little  to  ourselves. 

3.  In  case  the  enemy  should  fall  back  without 
accepting  battle  he  could  make  our  advance  very 
slow,  and  with  a  comparatively  small  force  posted  in 
the  gaps  of  the  mountains  could  hold  us  back  while 
he  crossed  the  Tennessee  River,  where  he  would  be 
measurably  secure  and  free  to  send  reinforcements 
to  Johnston.     His  force  in  East  Tennessee  could 
seriously  harass  our  left  flank  and  constantly  dis 
turb  our  communication. 

4.  The  withdrawal  of  Burnside's  ninth   army 
corps  deprives  us  of  an  important  reserve  and  flank 
protection,  thus  increasing  the  difficulty  of  an  ad 
vance. 

5.  General  Hurlburt  has  sent  the  most  of  his 
force  away  to  General  Grant,  thus  leaving  West 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  497 

Tennessee  uncovered,  and  laying  our  right  flank 
and  rear  open  to  raids  of  the  enemy. 

The  following  incidental  opinions  are  ex 
pressed,  — 

1.  One  officer  thinks  it  probable  that  the  enemy 
has  been  strengthened  rather  than  weakened,  and 
that  he  (the  enemy)  would  have  reasonable  pros 
pect  of  victory  in  a  general  battle. 

2.  One  officer  believes  the  result  of  a  general 
battle  would  be  doubtful,  a  victory  barren,  and  a 
defeat  most  disastrous. 

3.  Three  officers  believe  that  an  advance  would 
bring  on  a  general  engagement.     Three  others  be 
lieve  it  would  not. 

4.  Two  officers  express  the  opinion  that  the 
chances  of  success  in  a  general  battle  are  nearly 
equal. 

5.  One  officer  expresses  the  belief  that  our 
army  has  reached  its  maximum  strength  and  effi 
ciency,  and  that  inactivity  will  seriously  impair  its 
effectiveness. 

6.  Two   officers   say  that  an  increase  of  our 
cavalry  by  about  six  thousand  men  would  mate 
rially  change  the  aspect  of  our  affairs,  and  give  us 
a  decided  advantage. 

In  addition  to  the  above  summary,  I  have  the 
honor  to  submit  an  estimate  of  the  strength  of 
Bragg's  army,  gathered  from  all  the  data  I  have 
been  able  to  obtain,  including  the  estimate  of  the 


498  LIFE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

general  commanding,  in  his  official  report  of  the 
battle  of  Stone  River,  and  facts  gathered  from 
prisoners,  deserters,  and  refugees,  and  from  rebel 
newspapers.  After  the  battle  Bragg  consolidated 
many  of  his  decimated  regiments  and  irregular 
organizations ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  sending 
reinforcements  to  Johnston,  his  army  had  reached 
the  greatest  effective  strength.  It  consisted  of 
five  divisions  of  infantry,  composed  of  ninety-four 
regiments,  and  two  independent  battalions  of 
sharp-shooters,  —  say  ninety-five  regiments.  By  a 
law  of  the  confederate  Congress,  regiments  are 
consolidated  when  their  effective  strength  falls 
below  two  hundred  and  fifty  men.  Even  the 
regiments  formed  by  such  consolidation  (which 
may  reasonably  be  regarded  as  the  fullest)  must 
fall  below  five  hundred.  I  am  satisfied  that  four 
hundred  is  a  large  estimate  of  the  average 
strength. 

The  force,  then,  would  be,  — 

Infantry,  95  regiments,  400  each,  .  .  38,000 
Cavalry,  35  regiments,  say  500  each,  .  17,500 
Artillery,  26  batteries,  say  100  each,  .  2,600 

Total 58,600 

This  force  has  been  reduced  by  detachments  to 
Johnston.  It  is  as  well  known  as  we  can  ever 
expect  to  ascertain  such  facts,  that  three  brigades 
have  gone  from  McConn's  division,  and  two  or 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  499 

three  from  Breckinridge's,  —  say  two.  It  is  clear 
that  there  are  now  but  four  infantry  divisions  in 
Bragg's  army,  the  fourth  being  composed  of  frag 
ments  of  McConn's  and  Breckinridge's  divisions, 
and  must  be  much  smaller  than  the  average. 
Deducting  the  five  brigades,  and  supposing  them 
composed  of  only  four  regiments  each,  which  is 
below  the  general  average,  it  gives  an  infantry 
reduction  of  twenty  regiments,  four  hundred  each 
—  eight  thousand — leaving  a  remainder  of  thirty 
thousand.  It  is  clearly  ascertained  that  at  least 
two  brigades  of  cavalry  have  been  sent  from  Van 
Dorn's  command  to  the  Mississippi,  and  it  is  as 
serted  in  the  Chattanooga  Rebel,  of  June  llth, 
that  General  Morgan's  command  has  been  perma 
nently  detached  and  sent  to  eastern  Kentucky. 
It  is  not  certainly  known  how  large  his  division  is, 
but  it  is  known  to  contain  at  least  two  brigades. 
Taking  this  minimum  as  the  fact,  we  have  a  cav 
alry  reduction  of  four  brigades. 

Taking  the  lowest  estimate,  four  regiments  to 
the  brigade,  we  have  a  reduction,  by  detachment, 
of  sixteen  regiments,  five  hundred  each,  leaving 
his  present  effective  cavalry  force  nine  thousand 
five  hundred.  With  the  nine  brigades  of  the  two 
arms  thus  detached,  it  will  be  safe  to  say  there 
have  gone,  — 


500  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Six  batteries,  80  men  each,  .        .        .  480 

Leaving  him  20  batteries,  .        .         .  2,120 

Making  a  total  reduction  of  ...  16,480 

Leaving,  of  the  three  arms,  .        .        .  41,680 

In  this  estimate  of  Bragg' s  strength,  I  have 
placed  all  doubts  in  his  favor,  and  I  have  no  ques 
tion  that  my  estimate  is  considerably  beyond  the 
truth.  General  Sheridan,  who  has  taken  great 
pains  to  collect  evidence  on  this  point,  places  it 
considerably  below  these  figures.  But  assuming 
these  to  be  correct,  and  granting  what  is  still 
more  improbable,  that  Bragg  would  abandon  all 
his  rear  posts,  and  entirely  neglect  his  communi 
cations,  and  could  bring  his  last  man  into  battle,  I 
next  ask :  What  have  we  with  which  to  oppose 
him? 

The  last  official  report  of  effective  strength  now 
on  file  in  the  office  of  the  assistant  adjutant-gen 
eral,  is  dated  from  June  llth,  and  shows  that  we 
have  in  this  department,  omitting  all  officers  and 
enlisted  men  attached  to  department,  corps,  divi 
sion  and  brigade  headquarters,  — 

1.  Infantry — One  hundred  and  seventy-three 
regiments ;    ten   battalions    sharp-shooters ;    four 
battalions   pioneers ;    and  one  regiment  of  engi 
neers     and    mechanics,    with    a    total    effective 
strength   of  seventy  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
eighteen. 

2.  Cavalry  —  Twenty-seven  regiments  and  one 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  501 

unattached  company,  eleven  thousand  eight  hun 
dred  and  thirteen. 

3.  Artillery — Forty-seven  and  a  half  batteries 
field  artillery,  consisting  of  two  hundred  and 
ninety-two  guns  and  five  hundred  and  sixty-nine 
men,  —  making  a  general  total  of  eighty-seven 
thousand  eight  hundred. 

Leaving  out  all  commissioned  officers,  this  army 
represents  eighty-two  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  sixty-seven  bayonets  and  sabres.  This  report 
does  not  include  the  Fifth  Iowa  cavalry,  six  hun 
dred  strong,  lately  armed  ;  nor  the  First  Wisconsin 
cavalry ;  nor  Coburn's  brigade  of  infantry,  now 
arriving ;  nor  the  two  thousand  three  hundred  and 
ninety-four  convalescents,  now  on  light  duty  in 
"Fortress  Monroe." 

There  are  detached  from  this  force  as  follows,  — 

At  Galatin, 969 

At  Carthage, 1,149 

At  Fort  Donelson, 1,485 

At  Clarkesvillo, 1,138 

At  Nashville,    ....                 .  7,292 

At  Franklin,     .  900 

At  Lavergne,    .        .        .                 .         .  2,117 


Total, 15,130 

With  these  posts  as  they  are,  and  leaving  two 
thousand  five  hundred  efficient  men,  in  addition  to 
the  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  ninety-four 


502  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OP 

convalescents,  to  hold  the  works  at  this  place, 
there  will  be  left  sixty-five  thousand  one  hundred 
and  thirty -seven  bayonets  and  sabres  to  show, 
against  Bragg's  forty-one  thousand  six  hundred 
and  eighty. 

I  beg  leave,  also,  to  submit  the  following  con 
siderations, — 

1.  Bragg's   army   is   weaker  now  than  it  has 
been  since  the  battle  of  Stone  River,  or  is  likely  to 
be,  at   present ;  while  our   army  has  reached  its 
maximum  strength,  and  we  have  no  right  to  ex 
pect   reinforcements  for  several  months,  if  at  all. 

2.  Whatever  be  the  result  at  Yicksburg,  the 
determination  of  its  fate  will  give  large  reinforce 
ments  to  Bragg.     If  Grant  is  successful,  his  army 
will   require    many   weeks   to    recover   from   the 
shock   and    strain    of    his   late   campaign,    while 
Johnston  will  send  back  to  Bragg  a  force  sufficient 
to  insure  the  safety  of  Tennessee.     If  Grant  fails, 
the  same   result  will   inevitably  follow,  so  far  as 
Bragg's  army  is  concerned. 

3.  No  man  can  predict,  with  a  certainty,  the 
results  of  any  battle,  however  great  the  disparity 
in  numbers.     Such  results  are  in  the  hand  of  God. 
But,  reviewing  the  question  in  the  light  of  human 
calculation,  I  refuse  to  entertain  a  doubt  that  this 
army,   which   in   January   last   defeated    Bragg's 
superior  numbers,  cannot   overwhelm  his  present 
greatly  inferior  forces. 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  503 

4.  The  most  unfavorable  course   for   us   that 
Bragg  could  take,  would  be  to  fall  back  without 
giving  us  battle  ;  but  this  would  be  very  disastrous 
to  him.     Besides  the  loss  cf  material  of  war,  and 
the  abandonment  of  the  rich  and  abundant  harvest, 
now  nearly  ripe  in  Central  Tennessee,  he  would 
lose  heavily  by  desertion.     It  is  well  known  that 
a   wide-spread    dissatisfaction    exists   among    his 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  troops.    They  are  already 
deserting   in    large    numbers.     A   retreat   would 
greatly  increase  both  the  desire  and  the  opportunity 
for  desertion,  and  would  very  materially  reduce 
his  physical  and  moral  strength.     While  it  would 
lengthen    our   communication,    it   would  give  us 
possession    of    McMinnville,    and    enable   us   to 
threaten  Chattanooga  and  East  Tennessee  ;  and  it 
would  not   be   unreasonable   to   expect   an  early 
occupation  of  the  former  place. 

5.  But  the  chances  are  more  than  even  that  a 
sudden    and    rapid    movement   would  compel   a 
general    engagement,    and   the   defeat    of    Bragg 
would  be,  in  the  highest  degree,  disastrous  to  the 
rebellion. 

6.  The  turbulent  aspect  of  politics  in  the  loyal 
States  renders  a  decisive  blow  against  the  enemy, 
at   this  time,   of  the   highest  importance   to   the 
success  of  the  government  at  the  polls,  and  in  the 
enforcement  of  the  Conscript  Act. 

7.  The  government  and  the  War  Department 


504  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

believe  that  this  army  ought  to  move  upon  the 
enemy.  The  army  desire  it,  and  the  country  i* 
anxiously  hoping  for  it. 

8.  Our  true  objective  point  is  the  rebel  army, 
whose  last  reserves  are  substantially  in  the  field, 
and  an  effective  blow  will  crush  the  shell,  and  soon 
be  followed  by  the  collapse  of  the  rebel  govern 
ment. 

9.  You  have,  in  my  judgment,  wisely  delayed 
a  general  movement  hitherto,  till  your  army  could 
be  massed,  and  your  cavalry  could  be  mounted. 
Your  mobile  force   can   now  be   concentrated  in 
twenty-four  hours,  and  your  cavalry,  if  not  equal 
in  numerical  strength  to   that   of  the  enemy,  is 
greatly  superior  in   efficiency   and   morale.     For 
this  reason  I  believe  an  immediate  advance  of  all 
our  available  forces  is  advisable,  and,  under  the 
providence  of  God,  will  be  successful. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  A.  GARFIELD, 
Brigadier-General,  Chief  of  Staff. 

Major-General  ROSECRANS, 

Commanding  Dept.  of  Cumberland. 


JAMES   A.  GARFIELD.  505 


n. 

The  following  is  the  official  record  of  the  post-mortem  exami 
nation  of  the  body  of  President  JAMES  A.  GARFIELD, 
made  Sept.  20,  1881,  commencing  at  4.30  P.  M.  eighteen 
hours  after  death,  at  Francklyn  Cottage,  Elberon,  N.  J. 

THERE  were  present  and  assisting,  Dr.  D.  W. 
Bliss ;  Surgeon-General  J.  K.  Barnes,  U.  S.  A.  ; 
Surgeon  J.  J.  Woodward,  U.  S.  A.  ;  Dr.  Robert 
Reyburn  ;  Dr.  Frank  H.  Hamilton  ;  Dr.  D.  Hayes 
Agnew ;  Dr.  Andrew  H.  Smith,  of  Elberon  and 
New  York,  and  acting  as  the  assistant  surgeon, 
and  D.  S.  Lamb,  of  the  Army  Medical  Museum, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

Before  commencing  the  examination  a  consulta 
tion  was  held  by  the  physicians  in  the  room  adjoin 
ing  that  in  which  the  body  lay,  and  it  was  unani 
mously  agreed  that  the  dissection  should  be  made 
by  Dr.  Lamb,  and  that  Surgeon  Woodward  should 
record  the  observations  made.  It  was  further 
unanimously  agreed  that  the  cranium  should  not 
be  opened.  Surgeon  Woodward  then  proposed 
that  the  examination  should  be  conducted  as  fol 
lows  :  That  the  body  should  be  viewed  externally, 
and  any  morbid  appearances  existing  recorded; 


506"  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

that  a  catheter  should  then  be  passed  into  the 
wound,  as  was  done  during  life  to  wash  it  out,  for 
the  purpose  of  assisting  to  find  the  position  of  the 
bullet ;  that  a  long  incision  should  next  be  made 
from  the  superior  extremity  of  the  sternum  to  the 
pubis,  and  this  crossed  by  a  transverse  one  just 
below  the  umbilicus ;  that  the  abdominal  flaps 
thus  made  should  then  be  turned  back  and  the 
abdominal  viscera  examined  ;  that  after  the  abdom 
inal  cavity  was  opened,  the  position  of  the  bullet 
should  be  ascertained,  if  possible,  before  making 
any  further  incision,  and  that,  finally,  the  thoracic 
viscera  should  be  examined.  This  order  of  pro 
cedure  was  unanimously  agreed  to,  and  the  exami 
nation  was  proceeded  with. 

The  following  external  appearances  were  first 
observed :  The  body  was  considerably  emaciated, 
but  the  face  was  much  less  wasted  than  the  limbs. 
A  preservative  fluid  had  been  injected  by  the  em- 
balmer  a  few  hours  before  into  the  left  femoral 
artery.  The  pipes  used  for  the  purpose  were  still 
in  position.  The  anterior  surface  of  the  body  pre 
sented  no  abnormal  appearances,  and  there  was  no 
ecchymosis  or  other  discoloration  of  any  part  of 
the  front  of  the  abdomen.  Just  below  the  right 
ear,  and  a  little  behind  it,  there  was  an  oval  ulcer 
ated  opening  about  half  an  inch  in  diameter,  from 
which  some  sanious  pus  was  escaping,  but  no 
tumefaction  could  be  observed  in  the  parotid 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  507 

region.  A  considerable  number  of  purpura-like 
spots  were  scattered  thickly  over  the  left  scapula, 
and  thence  forward  as  far  as  the  axilla.  They  ranged 
from  one-eighth  to  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in  diam 
eter,  were  slightly  elevated  and  furfuraceous  on 
the  surface,  and  many  of  them  were  confluent  in 
groups  of  two  to  four  or  more.  A  similar,  but 
much  less  abundant,  eruption  was  observed  sparse 
ly  scattered  over  the  corresponding  region  on  the 
right  side.  An  oval  excavated  ulcer,  about  an 
inch  long,  the  result  of  a  small  carbuncle,  was 
seated  over  the  spinous  process  of  the  tenth  dorsal 
vertebra.  Over  the  sacrum  there  were  four  small 
bed  sores,  the  largest  about  half  an  inch  in  diam 
eter.  A  few  acute  pustules  and  a  number  of 
irregular  spots  of  post-mortem  hypostatic  conges 
tion  were  scattered  over  the  shoulders,  back  and 
buttocks.  The  inferior  part  of  the  scrotum  was 
much  discolored  by  hypostatic  congestion.  A 
group  of  hemorrhoidal  tumors  rather  larger  than 
a  walnut  protruded  from  the  anus.  The  depressed 
cicatrix  of  the  wound  made  by  the  pistol  bullet 
was  recognized  over  the  tenth  intercostal  space  at 
three  and  a  half  inches  to  the  right  of  the  vertebral 
spines.  A  deep  linear  incision  made  in  part  by  the 
operation  of  July  24,  and  extended  by  that  of 
August  8,  occupied  a  position  closely  correspond 
ing  to  the  upper  border  of  the  right  twelfth  rib. 
It  commenced  posteriorly  about  two  inches  from 


508  LITE    AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

the  vertebral  spines  and  extended  forward  a  little 
more  than  three  inches.  At  the  anterior  extremity 
of  this  incision  there  was  a  deep,  nearly  square, 
abraded  surface,  about  an  inch  across.  A  flexi 
ble  catheter,  fourteen  inches  long,  was  then  passed 
into  this  wound,  as  had  been  done  to  wash  it 
out  during  life.  More  resistance  was  at  first  en 
countered  than  had  usually  been  the  case,  but  after 
several  trials  the  catheter  entered  without  any  vio 
lence  its  full  length.  It  was  then  left  in  position, 
and  the  body  disposed  supinely  for  the  examina 
tion  of  the  viscera.  The  cranium  was  not  opened. 
A  long  incision  was  made  from  the  superior  extre 
mity  of  the  sternum  to  the  pubis,  followed  by  a 
transverse  incision  crossing  the  abdomen,  just  below 
the  umbilicus.  The  four  flaps  thus  formed  were 
turned  back,  and  the  abdominal  viscera  exposed. 
The  subcutaneous  adipose  tissue,  divided  by  the 
incision,  was  little  more  than  one-eighth  of  an  inch 
thick  over  the  thorax,  but  was  thicker  over  the 
abdomen,  being  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick 
along  the  linear  alba  and  as  much  as  half  an  inch 
thick  towards  the  outer  extremity  of  the  transverse 
incision.  On  inspection  of  the  abdominal  viscera 
in  situ,  the  transverse  colon  was  observed  to  lie  a 
little  above  the  line  of  the  umbilicus.  It  was 
firmly  adherent  to  the  anterior  edge  of  the  liver. 
The  greater  omentum  covered  the  intestines  pretty 
thoroughly  from  the  transverse  colon  almost  to 


JAMES    A.  GARFIELD.  509 

the  pubis.  It  was  still  quite  fat  and  was  very 
much  blackened  by  venous  congestion.  On  both 
sides  its  lateral  margins  were  adherent  to  the 
abdominal  parietes  opposite  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  ribs.  On  the  left  side  the  adhesions  were 
numerous,  firm,  well  organized,  and  probably  old. 
[A  foot-note  here  says  :  These  adhesions  and  the 
firm  ones  on  the  right  side,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
spleen,  possibly  date  back  to  an  attack  of  chronic 
dysentery,  from  which  the  patient  is  said  to  have 
suffered  during  the  civil  war.]  On  the  right  side 
there  were  a  few  similar  adhesions  and  a  number 
of  more  delicate  and  probably  recent  ones.  A 
mass  of  black,  coagulated  blood  covered  and  con 
cealed  the  spleen  and  the  left  margin  of  the  greater 
omentum.  On  raising  the  omenturn  it  was  found 
that  a  blood  mass  extended  through  the  left  lumbar 
and  iliac  regions,  and  dipped  down  into  the  pelvis, 
in  which  there  was  some  clotted  blood  and  rather 
more  than  a  pint  of  bloody  fluid.  [A  foot-note 
here  says  :  A  large  part  of  this  fluid  had  probably 
transuded  from  the  injection  material  of  the  em- 
balmer.]  The  blood  coagula,  having  been  turned 
out  and  collected,  measured  very  nearly  a  pint. 
It  was  now  evident  that  secondary  hemorrhage 
had  been  the  immediate  cause  of  death,  but  the 
point  from  which  the  blood  had  escaped  was  not  at 
once  apparent.  The  omentum  was  not  adherent  to 
the  intestines,  which  were  moderately  distended 


510  LITE    AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

with  gas.  No  intestinal  adhesions  were  found  other 
than  those  between  the  transverse  colon  and  the 
liver,  already  mentioned. 

The  abdominal  cavity  being  now  washed  out  as 
thoroughly  as  possible,  a  fruitless  attempt  was 
made  to  obtain  some  indication  of  the  presence  of 
the  bullet  before  making  any  further  incision.  By 
pushing  the  intestines  aside,  the  extremity  of  the 
catheter,  which  had  been  pressed  into  the  wound, 
could  be  felt  between  the  peritoneum  and  the 
right  iliac  fossa,  but  it  had  evidently  doubled 
upon  itself,  and,  although  a  prolonged  search  was 
made,  nothing  could  be  seen  or  felt  to  indicate  the 
presence  of  the  bullet,  either  in  that  region  or 
elsewhere.  The  abdominal  viscera  were  then 
carefully  removed  from  the  body,  placed  in  suit 
able  vessels  and  examined  seriatim,  with  the  fol 
lowing  result :  The  adhesions  between  the  liver 
and  the  transverse  colon  proved  to  bound  an 
abscess  cavity  between  the  under  surface  of  the 
liver,  the  transverse  colon  and  the  transverse  meso- 
colon,  which  involved  the  gall-bladder,  and  ex 
tended  to  about  the  same  distance  on  each  side  of 
it,  measuring  six  inches  transversely,  and  four 
inches  from  before  backward.  This  cavity  was 
lined  by  a  thick  pyogenic  membrane,  which  com 
pletely  replaced  the  capsule  of  that  part  of  the 
under  surface  of  the  liver  occupied  by  the  abscess. 
It  contained  about  two  ounces  of  greenish-yellow 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  511 

fluid,  a  mixture  of  pus  and  biliary  matter.  This 
abscess  did  not  involve  any  portion  of  the  sub 
stance  of  the  liver,  except  the  surface  with  which 
it  was  in  contact.  No  communication  could  be 
traced  between  it  and  any  part  of  the  wound. 
Some  recent  peritoneal  adhesions  existed  between 
the  upper  surface  of  the  right  lobe  of  the  liver 
and  the  diaphragm.  The  liver  was  larger  than  nor 
mal,  weighing  eighty-four  ounces  ;  its  substance  was 
firm,  but  of  a  pale  yellowish  color  on  its  surface, 
and  throughout  the  interior  of  the  organ,  from 
fatty  degeneration.  No  evidence  that  it  had  been 
penetrated  by  the  bullet  could  be  found,  nor  were 
there  any  abscesses  or  infractions  in  any  part  of 
its  tissue.  The  spleen  was  connected  to  the  dia 
phragm  by  firm,  probably  old,  peritoneal  adhe 
sions.  There  were  several  rather  deep  congenial 
fissures  in  its  margins,  giving  it  a  lobulated  appear 
ance.  It  was  abnormally  large,  weighing  eighteen 
ounces,  of  a  very  dark,  lake-red  color.  Its  par 
enchyma  was  soft  and  flabby,  but  contained  no 
abscesses  or  infractions.  There  were  some  recent 
peritoneal  adhesions  between  the  posterior  wall  of 
the  stomach  and  the  posterior  abdominal  parietes. 
With  this  exception,  no  abnormities  were  discov 
ered  in  the  stomach  or  intestines,  nor  were  any 
other  evidences  of  general  or  acute  peritonitis 
found  besides  those  already  specified.  The  right 
kidney  weighed  six  ounces,  the  left  kidney  seven. 


512  LIFE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

Just  beneath  the  capsule  of  the  left  kidney,  at 
about  the  middle  of  its  convex  border,  there  was  a 
little  abscess  one-third  of  an  inch  in  diameter. 
There  were  three  small  serous  cysts  on  the  convex 
border  of  the  right  kidney,  just  beneath  its  cap 
sule.  In  other  respects  the  tissue  of  both  kidneys 
was  normal  in  appearance  and  in  texture.  The 
urinary  bladder  was  empty.  Behind  the  right 
kidney,  after  the  removal  of  that  organ  from  the 
body,  the  dilated  track  of  the  bullet  was  discov 
ered.  It  was  found  that,  from  the  point  at  which 
it  had  fractured  the  right  eleventh  rib,  three 
inches  and  a  half  to  the  right  of  the  vertebral 
spines,  the  missile  had  gone  to  the  left  obliquely 
forward,  passing  through  the  body  of  the  first 
lumbar  vertebra,  and  lodging  in  the  adipose  collec 
tive  tissue,  immediately  below  the  lower  border  of 
the  pancreas,  about  two  inches  and  a  half  to  the 
left  of  the  spinal  column,  and  behind  the  perito 
neum.  It  had  become  completely  encysted.  The 
track  of  the  bullet  between  the  point  at  which  it 
had  fractured  the  eleventh  rib  and  that  at  which 
it  entered  the  first  lumbar  vertebra  was  consider 
ably  dilated,  and  the  pus  had  burrowed  down 
ward  through  the  adipose  tissue  behind  the  right 
kidney,  and  thence  had  found  its  way  between  the 
peritoneum  and  the  right  iliac  fossa,  making  a  de 
scending  channel,  which  extended  almost  to  the 
groin.  The  adipose  tissue  behind  the  kidney,  in 


JAMES    A.    GAIIFIELD.  513 

the  vicinity  of  the  descending  channel,  was  much 
thickened  and  condensed  by  inflammation.  In  the 
channel,  which  was  found  almost  free  from  pus,  lay 
the  flexible  catheter  introduced  into  the  wound  at 
the  commencement  of  the  autopsy.  Its  extremity 
was  found  doubled  upon  itself  immediately  be 
neath  the  peritoneum,  reposing  upon  the  iliac 
fossa,  where  the  channel  was  dilated  into  a  pouch 
of  considerable  size.  This  long  descending  chan 
nel,  now  clearly  seen  to  have  been  caused  by  the 
burrowing  of  pus  from  the  wound,  was  supposed, 
during  life,  to  have  been  the  track  of  the  bullet. 
The  last  dorsal,  together  with  the  first  and  second 
lumbar  vertebra  and  the  twelfth  rib,  were  then  re 
moved  from  the  body  for  more  thorough  examina 
tion.  When  this  examination  was  made,  it  was 
found  that  the  bullet  had  penetrated  the  first  lum 
bar  vertebra  in  the  upper  part  of  the  right  side  of 
the  body.  The  aperture  by  which  it  entered  the 
intervertebral  cartilage  next  above,  was  situated 
just  below  and  anterior  to  the  intervertebral  fora 
men,  from  which  the  upper  margin  was  about  one- 
quarter  of  an  inch  distant.  Passing  obliquely  to 
the  left,  and  forward  through  the  upper  part  of 
the  body  of  the  first  lumbar  vertebra,  the  bullet 
emerged  by  the  aperture,  the  centre  of  which  was 
about  half  an  inch  to  the  left  of  the  median  line, 
and  which  also  involved  the  intervertebral  carti 
lage  next  above.  The  cancellated  tissue  of  the 


514  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

body  of  the  first  lumbar  vertebra  was  very  much 
comminuted,  and  the  fragments  somewhat  dis 
placed.  Several  deep  fissures  extended  from  the 
track  of  the  bullet  into  the  lower  part  of  the  body 
of  the  twelfth  dorsal  vertebra.  Others  extended 
through  the  first  lumbar  vertebra  into  the  interver- 
tebral  cartilage,  between  it  and  the  second  lumbar 
vertebra.  Both  this  cartilage  and  the  next  above 
were  partly  destroyed  by  ulceration.  A  number 
of  minute  fragments  from  the  fractured  lumbar 
vertebra  had  been  driven  into  the  adjacent  soft 
parts.  It  was  further  found  that  the  right  twelfth 
rib  also  was  fractured  at  a  point  one  and  a  quarter 
inches  to  the  right  of  the  transverse  process  of  the 
twelfth  dorsal  vertebra.  This  injury  had  not 
been  recognized  during  life.  On  sawing  through 
the  vertebra,  a  little  to  the  right  of  the  median 
line,  it  was  found  that  the  spinal  canal  was  not  in 
volved  by  the  track  of  the  ball.  The  spinal  cord 
and  other  contents  of  this  portion  of  the  spinal 
canal  presented  no  abnormal  appearance.  The 
rest  of  the  spinal  cord  was  not  examined.  Beyond 
the  first  lumbar  vertebra,  the  bullet  continued  to 
go  to  the  left,  passing  behind  the  pancreas  to  the 
point  where  it  was  found.  Here  it  was  enveloped 
in  a  firm  cyst  of  connective  tissues,  which  con 
tained,  beside  the  ball,  a  minute  quantity  of 
inspissated  somewhat  cheesy  pus,  which  formed  a 
thin  layer  of  a  portion  of  the  surface  of  the  lead. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  515 

There  was  also  a  black  shred  adherent  to  a  part  of 
the  cyst  wall,  which  proved,  on  microscopal  exami 
nation,  to  be  the  remains  of  a  blood  clot.  For 
about  an  inch  from  this  cyst,  the  track  of  the  ball 
behind  the  pancreas  was  completely  obliterated  by 
the  healing  process.  Thence  as  far  backward  as 
the  body  of  the  first  lumbar  vertebra  the  track 
was  filled  with  coagulated  blood,  which  extended 
on  the  left  into  an  irregular  space  rent  in  the  ad 
joining  adipose  tissue  behind  the  peritoneum  and 
above  the  pancreas.  The  blood  had  worked  its 
way  to  the  left,  bursting  finally  through  the  perito 
neum  behind  the  spleen  into  the  abdominal  cavity. 
The  rending  of  the  tissues  by  the  extravasation 
of  this  blood  was  undoubtedly  the  cause  of  the 
paroxysms  of  pain  which  occurred  a  short  time 
before  death.  This  mass  of  coagulated  blood  was 
of  irregular  form,  and  nearly  as  large  as  a  man's 
fist.  It  could  be  distinctly  seen  from  in  front 
through  the  peritoneum,  after  the  greater  curva 
ture  of  the  stomach  had  been  exposed  by  the  dis 
solution  of  the  greater  omentum  from  the  stomach, 
and  especially  after  some  delicate  adhesions  be 
tween  the  stomach  and  the  part  of  the  peritoneum 
covering  the  blood  mass  had  been  broken  down  by 
ths  fingers.  From  the  relations  of  the  mass,  as 
thus  seen,  it  was  believed  that  the  hemorrhage  had 
proceeded  from  one  of  the  mesenteric  arteries ; 
but,  as  it  was  clear  that  a  minute  dissection  would 


516  LITE    AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES    OF 

be  required  to  determine  the  particular  branch 
involved,  it  was  agreed  that  the  infiltrated  tissues 
and  the  adjoining  soft  parts  should  be  preserved 
for  subsequent  study.  On  the  examination  and 
dissection  made  in  accordance  with  this  agreement, 
it  was  found  that  the  fatal  hemorrhage  proceeded 
from  a  rent,  nearly  four  tenths  of  an  inch  long,  in 
the  main  trunk  of  the  splenic  artery,  two  inches 
and  a  half  to  the  left  of  the  cceliac  axis.  The  rent 
must  have  occurred  at  least  several  days  before 
death,  since  the  everted  edges  in  the  slit  in  the 
vessel  were  united  by  firm  adhesions  to  the  sur 
rounding  connective  tissue,  thus  forming  an  almost 
continuous  wall,  bounding  the  adjoining  portion  of 
the  blood  clot.  Moreover,  the  peripheral  portion 
of  the  clot  in  this  vicinity  was  disposed  in  pretty 
firm  concentric  layers.  It  was  further  found  that 
the  cyst  below  the  lower  margin  of  the  pancreas, 
in  which  the  bullet  w^as  found,  was  situated  three 
and  one-half  inches  to  the  left  of  the  cceliac  axis. 
Beside  the  mass  of  coagulated  blood  just  described, 
another  about  the  size  of  a  walnut  was  found  in  the 
greater  omentum,  near  the  splenic  extremity  of 
the  stomach.  The  communication,  if  any,  between 
this  and  the  larger  hemorrhagic  mass  could  not  be 
made  out. 

The  examination  of  the  thoracic  viscera  resulted 
as  follows  :  The  heart  weighed  eleven  ounces.  All 
the  cavities  were  entirely  empty,  except  the  right 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  517 

ventrical,  in  which  a  few  shreds  of  soft  reddish 
coagulated  blood  adhered  to  the  internal  surface. 
On  the  surface  of  the  mitral  valve  there  were  sev 
eral  spots  of  fatty  degeneration.  With  this  ex 
ception  the  cardiac  valves  were  normal.  The 
muscular  tissues  of  the  heart  were  soft  and  tore 
easily.  A  few  spots  of  fatty  degeneration  existed 
in  the  lining  membrane  of  the  aorta,  just  above  the 
semilunar  valves,  and  a  slender  clot  of  fibrine  was 
found  in  the  aorta,  where  it  was  divided,  about 
two  inches  from  these  valves,  for  the  removal  of 
the  heart.  On  the  right  side  slight  pleuritic  ad 
hesions  existed  between  the  convex  surface  of  the 
lower  lobe  of  the  lung  and  the  costal  pleura,  and 
firm  adhesions  between  the  anterior  edge  of  the 
lower  lobe,  the  pericardium  and  the  diaphragm. 
The  right  lung  weighed  thirty- two  ounces.  The 
posterior  part  of  the  fissure  between  its  upper  and 
lower  lobes  was  congenitally  incomplete.  The 
lower  lobe  of  the  right  lung  was  hypostatically  con 
gested,  and  considerable  portions,  especially  toward 
its  base,  were  the  seat  of  broncho-pneumonia.  The 
bronchial  tubes  contained  a  considerable  quantity 
of  stringy  mucous  pus.  Their  mucous  surface  was 
reddened  by  catarrhal  bronchitis.  The  lung  tissue 
was  cedematous.  [A  foot-note  here  says  :  A  part 
at  least  of  this  condition  was  doubtless  due  to  the 
extravasation  of  the  injecting  fluids  by  the  em- 
balmer.  But  it  contained  no  abscesses  or  infrao- 


518  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES  OF 

tions.]  On  the  left  side  the  lower  lobe  of  the  lung 
was  bound  behind  to  the  costal  pleura,  above  to  the 
upper  lobe,  and  below  to  the  diaphragm  by  pretty 
firm  pleuritic  adhesions.  The  left  lung  weighed 
twenty-seven  ounces.  The  condition  of  its  bron 
chial  tubes  and  of  the  lung  tissues  was  very  nearly 
the  same  as  on  the  right  side,  the  chief  difference 
being  that  the  area  of  broncho-pneumonia  in  the 
lower  lobe  was  much  less  extensive  in  the  left  lung 
than  in  the  right.  In  the  lateral  part  of  the  lower 
lobe  of  the  left  lung,  and  about  an  inch  from  its 
pleural  surface,  there  was  a  group  of  four  minute 
areas  of  gray  hepatization,  each  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.  There  were  no  infrac 
tions  and  no  abscesses  in  any  part  of  the  lung 
tissue. 

The  surgeons  assisting  at  the  autopsy  were 
unanimously  of  the  opinion  that,  in  reviewing  the 
history  of  the  case  in  connection  with  the  autopsy, 
it  was  quite  evident  that  the  different  suppurating 
surfaces,  and  especially  the  fractured,  spongy  tis 
sue  of  the  vertebra,  furnished  a  sufficient  expla 
nation  of  the  septic  conditions  which  existed  during 
life.  About  an  hour  after  the  post-mortem  exam 
ination  was  completed  the  physicians  named  at  the 
commencement  of  this  report  assembled  for  fur 
ther  consultation  in  an  adjoining  cottage.  A  brief 
outline  of  the  results  of  the  post-mortem  examina 
tion  was  drawn  up,  signed  by  all  the  physicians, 


JAMES  ,A.    GARFIELD.  519 

and  handed  to  Private  Secretary  J.  Stanley  Brown, 
who  was  requested  to  furnish  copies  to  the  news 
paper  press. 

D.  W.  BLISS. 

J.  K.  BARNES. 

J.  J.  WOODWARD. 

ROBERT  REYBURN. 

D.  S.  LAMB. 

As  the  above  report  contains  paragraphs  detail 
ing  the  observations  made  at  Washington  on  the 
pathological  specimens  preserved  for  that  purpose, 
the  names  of  Drs.  J.  H.  Hamilton,  D.  Hayes 
Agnew,  and  A.  H.  Smith,  are  not  appended  to  it. 
It  has,  however,  been  submitted  to  them,  and  they 
have  given  their  assent  to  the  other  portions  of  the 
report. 


520  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


in. 

SENATOR    HOAR'S    ADDRESS. 

I  SHOULD  indulge  myself  in  a  strange  delusion 
if  I  hoped  to  say  anything  of  President  Garfield 
which  is  not  already  well  known  to  his  country 
men,  or  to  add  further  honor  to  a  name  to  which 
the  judgment  of  the  world,  with  marvelous  una 
nimity,  has  already  assigned  its  place.  The  public 
sorrow  and  love  have  found  utterance,  if  not  ade 
quate,  yet  such  as  speech,  and  silence,  and  funeral 
rite,  and  stately  procession,  and  prayers,  and  tears 
could  give.  On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  Septem 
ber,  the  day  of  the  funeral,  a  common  feeling 
stirred  mankind  as  never  before  in  history.  That 
mysterious  law,  by  which,  in  a  great  audience, 
every  emotion  is  multiplied  in  each  heart  by  sym 
pathy  with  every  other,  laid  its  spell  on  universal 
humanity.  At  the  touch  which  makes  the  whole 
world  kin,  all  barriers  of  rank,  or  party,  or  State, 
or  Nation  disappeared.  His  own  Ohio,  the  State 
of  his  birth  and  of  his  burial,  New  England,  from 
whose  loins  came  the  sturdy  race  from  which  he 


JAMES    A.   GARFIELD.  521 

descended,  whose  college  gave  him  his  education, 
can  claim  no  pre-eminence  in  sorrow. 

From  farthest  south  comes  the  voice  of  mourn 
ing  for  the  soldier  of  the  Union.  Over  fisher 
man's  hut  and  frontiersman's  cabin  is  spread  a 
gloom  because  the  White  House  is  desolate.  The 
son  of  the  poor  widow  is  dead,  and  palace  and 
castle  are  in  tears.  As  the  humble  Campbellite 
disciple  is  borne  to  his  long  home,  the  music  of 
the  requiem  fills  cathedral  arches  and  the  domes 
of  ancient  synagogues.  On  the  coffin  of  the  canal- 
boy  a  queen  lays  her  wreath.  As  the  bier  is  lifted, 
word  comes  beneath  the  sea  that  the  nations  of 
the  earth  are  rising  and  bowing  their  heads.  From 
many  climes,  in  many  languages,  they  join  in  the 
solemn  service.  This  is  no  blind  and  sudden 
emotion,  gathering  and  breaking  like  a  wave.  It 
is  the  mourning  of  mankind  for  a  great  character 
already  perfectly  known  and  familiar.  If  there 
be  any  persons  who  fear  that  religious  faith  is 
dying,  that  science  has  shaken  the  hold  of  the 
moral  law  upon  the  minds  of  men,  let  them  take 
comfort  in  asking  themselves  if  any  base  or  igno 
ble  passion  could  have  so  moved  mankind.  Mod 
ern  science  has  called  into  life  these  mighty  ser 
vants,  press  and  telegraph,  who  have  created  a 
nerve  which  joins  together  all  human  hearts  and 
pulses  simultaneously  over  the  globe.  To  what 
conqueror,  to  what  tyrant,  to  what  selfish  ambi- 


522  LIFE   AND    PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

tion,  to  what  mere  intellectual  greatness  would 
it  not  have  refused  response  ?  The  power  in  the 
universe  that  makes  for  evil,  and  the  power  in  the 
universe  that  makes  for  righteousness,  measure  their 
forces.  A  poor,  weak  fiend  shoots  off  his  little 
bolt,  a  single  human  life  is  stricken  down,  and  a 
throb  of  divine  love  thrills  a  planet. 

Every  American  State  has  its  own  story  of  the 
brave  and  adventurous  spirits  who  were  its  early 
settlers ;  the  men  who  build  commonwealths,  the 
men  of  whom  commonwealths  are  builded.  The 
history  of  the  settlement  of  Massachusetts,  of  cen 
tral  New  York,  and  of  Ohio,  is  the  history  of  the 
Garfield  race.  They  were,  to  borrow  a  felicitous 
phrase,  "  hungry  for  the  horizon."  They  were 
natural  frontiersmen.  Of  the  seven  generations 
born  in  America,  including  the  President,  not  one 
was  born  in  other  than  a  frontiersman's  dwelling. 

Two  of  them,  father  and  son,  came  over  with 
Winthrop  in  1630.  Each  of  the  six  generations 
who  dwelt  in  Massachusetts  has  left  an  honorable 
record  still  preserved.  Five  in  succession  bore  an 
honorable  military  title.  Some  were  fighters  in 
the  Indian  wars.  "It  is  not  in  Indian  wars," 
Fisher  Ames  well  says,  "  that  heroes  are  cele 
brated,  but  it  is  there  they  are  formed."  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  Revolution  the  male  represent 
atives  of  the  family  were  two  young  brothers. 
One,  whose  name  descended  to  the  President,  was 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  523 

in  arms  at  Concord  bridge,  at  sunrise,  on  the  19th 
of  April.  The  other,  the  President's  great  grand 
father,  dwelling  thirty  miles  off,  was  on  his  way  to 
the  scene  of  action  before  noon.  When  the  Consti 
tution  rejected  by  Massachusetts  in  1778  was  pro 
posed,  this  same  ancestor,  with  his  fellow-citizens 
of  the  little  town  of  Westminster,  voted  unani 
mously  for  the  rejection,  and  put  on  record  their 
reasons.  "It  is  our  opinion  that  no  constitution 
whatever  ought  to  be  established  till  previously 
thereto  a  bill  of  rights  be  set  forth,  and  the  consti 
tution  be  framed  therefrom,  so  that  the  lowest 
capacity  may  be  able  to  determine  his  natural 
rights,  and  judge  of  the  equitableness  of  the  con 
stitution  thereby."  "And  as  to  the  Constitution 
itself,  the  following  appears  to  us  exceptionable, 
viz,  the  fifth  article,"  [Excepting  negroes,  mulat- 
toes  and  Indians  from  the  right  to  vote],  "  which 
deprives  a  portion  of  the  human  race  of  their 
natural  rights  on  account  of  their  color,  which,  in 
our  opinion,  no  power  on  earth  has  a  just  right  to 
do.  It  therefore  ought  to  be  expunged  the  Consti 
tution."  No  religious  intolerance  descended  in  the 
Garfield  race.  But  the  creed  of  this  Westminster 
catechism  they  seem  never  to  have  forgotten. 
When  the  war  was  over,  the  same  ancestor  took  his 
young  family  and  penetrated  the  forest  again.  He 
established  his  home  in  Otsego  county,  in  central 
New  York,  at  the  period  and  amid  the  scenes 


524  LIFE   AND    PUBLIC    SEEVICES   OF 

made  familiar  by  Cooper,  in  his  delightful  tale, 
The  Pioneers.  Again  the  generations  moved  west 
ward,  in  the  march  of  civilization,  keeping  ever 
in  the  van,  until  in  1831,  James  Garneld  was 
born,  in  a  humble  Ohio  cabin  where  he  was  left 
fatherless  in  his  infancy.  In  a  new  settlement  the 
wealth  of  the  family  is  in  the  right  arm  of  the 
father.  To  say  that  the  father,  who  had  himself 
been  left  an  orphan  when  he  was  an  infant,  left 
his  son  fatherless  in  infancy,  is  to  say  that  the 
family  was  reduced  to  extreme  poverty. 

I  have  not  given  this  narrative  as  the  story  of  a 
mean  or  ignoble  lineage.  Such  men,  whether  of 
Puritan,  or  Huguenot,  or  Cavalier  stock,  have 
ever  been  the  strength  and  the  security  of  Ameri 
can  States.  From  such  homes  came  Webster,  and 
Clay,  and  Lincoln  and  Jackson.  It  is  no  race  of 
boors  that  has  struck  its  axes  into  the  forests  of 
this  continent.  These  men  knew  how  to  build 
themselves  log  houses  in  the  wilderness.  They 
were  more  skillful  still  to  build  constitutions  and 
statutes.  Slow,  cautious,  conservative,  sluggish, 
unready,  in  ordinary  life,  their  brains  move  quick 
and  sure  as  their  rifles  flash,  when  great  contro 
versies  that  determine  the  fate  of  States  are  to  be 
decided,  when  great  interests  that  brook  no  delay 
are  at  stake,  and  great  battles  that  admit  no 
indecision,  are  to  be  fought.  The  trained  and 
disciplined  soldiers  of  England  could  not  anticipate 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  525 

these  alert  farmers.  On  the  morning  of  the  Revo 
lution  they  were  up  before  the  sun.  When  Wash 
ington  was  to  be  defended  in  1861  the  scholar,  or 
the  lawyer,  or  the  man  of  the  city,  dropped  his  book, 
left  his  court-house  or  his  counting-room,  and 
found  his  company  of  yeomen  waiting  for  him.  They 
are  ever  greatest  in  adversity.  I  would  not  under 
value  the  material  of  which  other  republics  have 
been  built.  The  polished  marbles  of  Greece  arid 
Italy  have  their  own  grace.  But  art  or  nature 
contain  no  more  exquisite  beauty  than  the  color 
which  this  split  and  unhewn  granite  takes  from 
the  tempest  it  withstands.  There  was  never  a 
race  of  men  on  earth  more  capable  of  seeing 
clearly,  of  grasping,  and  of  holding  fast  the  great 
truths  and  great  principles  which  are  permanent, 
sure,  and  safe  for  the  government  of  the  conduct 
of  life,  alike  in  private  and  public  concerns.  If 
there  be,  or  ever  shall  be,  in  this  country,  a 
demos,  fickle,  light-minded,  easily  moved,  blind, 
prejudiced,  incapable  of  permanent  adherence  to 
what  is  great  or  what  is  true,  whether  it  come 
from  the  effeminacy  of  wealth  or  the  scepticism  of 
a  sickly  and  selfish  culture,  or  the  povert}r  and 
ignorance  of  great  cities,  it  will  find  itself  power 
less  in  this  iron  grasp. 

Blending  with  this  Saxon  stock,  young  Garfield 
inherited  on  the  mother's  side  the  qualities  of  the 
Huguenots,  those  gentle  but  not  less  brave  or  less 


526  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

constant  Puritans,  who,  for  conscience  sake,  left 
their  beloved  and  beautiful  France,  whose  memory 
will  be  kept  green  so  long  as  Maine  cherishes 
Bowdoin  College,  or  Massachusetts  Faneuil  Hall? 
or  New  York  the  antique  virtue  of  John  Jay,  or 
South  Carolina  her  Revolutionary  history  — who 
gave  a  lustre  and  a  glory  to  every  place  and  thing 
they  touched.  The  child  of  such  a  race,  left 
fatherless  in  the  wilderness,  }Tet  destined  to  such  a 
glory,  was  committed  by  Providence  to  three  great 
teachers,  without  either  of  whom  he  would  not 
have  become  fitted  for  his  distinguished  career. 
These  teachers  were  a  wise  Christian  mother,  pov 
erty,  and  the  venerable  college  president  who  lived 
to  watch  his  pupil  through  the  whole  of  his  varied 
life,  to  witness  his  inauguration  amid  such  high 
hopes,  and  to  lament  his  death.  To  no  nobler 
matron  did  ever  Roman  hero  trace  his  origin. 
Few  of  the  traditions  of  his  Puritan  ancestry 
could  have  come  down  to  the  young  orphan.  It 
is  said  there  were  two  things  with  which  his 
mother  was  specially  familiar  —  the  Bible  and  the 
rude  ballads  of  the  war  of  1812.  The  child 
learned  the  Bible  at  his  mother's  knee,  and  the 
love  of  country  from  his  cradle-hymns. 

I  cannot,  within  the  limits  assigned  to  me,  re 
count  every  circumstance  of  special  preparation 
which  fitted  the  young  giant  for  the  great  and 
various  parts  he  was  to  play  in  the  drama  of  our 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  527 

republican  life.  It  would  be  but  to  repeat  a  story 
whose  pathos  and  romance  are  all  known  by  heart 
to  his  countrymen.  The  childhood  in  the  cabin  ; 
the  struggle  with  want  almost  with  famine,  the 
brother  proudly  bringing  his  first  dollar  to  buy 
shoes  for  the  little  bare  feet ;  the  labor  in  the 
forest,  the  growth  of  the  strong  frame  and  the 
massive  brain  ;  the  reading  of  the  first  novel ;  the 
boy's  longing  for  the  sea ;  the  canal-boat ;  the 
carpenter's  shop  ;  the  first  school ;  the  eager  thirst 
for  knowledge  ;  the  learning  that  an  obstacle  seems 
only  a  thing  to  be  overcome ;  the  founding  of  the 
college  at  Hiram  ;  the  companionship  in  study  of 
the  gifted  lady  whose  eulogy  he  pronounced  ;  the 
Campbellite  preaching  ;  the  ever-wise  guidance  of 
the  mother  ;  the  marriage  to  the  bright  and  beau 
tiful  schoolmate ;  we  know  them  better  even  than 
we  know  the  youth  of  Washington  and  of  Web 
ster.  General  Garfield  said  in  1878,  that  he  had 
not  long  ago  conversed  with  an  English  gentle 
man,  who  told  him  that  in  twenty-five  years  of 
careful  study  of  the  agricultural  class  in  England 
he  had  never  known  one  who  was  born  and  reared 
in  the  ranks  of  farm  laborers  that  rose  above  his 
class  and  became  a  well-to-do  citizen.  The  story 
of  a  childhood  passed  in  poverty,  of  intellect  and 
moral  nature  trained  in  strenuous  contests  with 
adversity,  is  not  unfamiliar  to  those  who  have 
read  the  lives  of  the  men  who  have  been  successful 


528  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

in  this  country  in  any  of  the  walks  of  life.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  beneficent  results  of  American 
institutions  that  we  have  ceased  to  speak  of  poverty 
and  hardship,  and  the  necessity  for  hard  and 
humble  toil  as  disadvantages  to  a  spirit  endowed 
by  nature  with  the  capacity  for  generous  ambi 
tions.  In  a  society  where  labor  is  honorable,  and 
where  every  place  in  social  or  public  life  is  open 
to  merit,  early  poverty  is  no  more  a  disadvantage 
than  a  gymnasium  to  an  athlete,  or  drill  and  disci 
pline  to  a  soldier. 

General  Garfield  was  never  ashamed  of  his 
origin.  He 

"  Did  not  change,  but  kept  in  lofty  place 
The  wisdom  which  adversity  had  bred." 

The  humblest  friend  of  his  boyhood  was  ever 
welcome  to  him  when  he  sat  in  the  highest  seats, 
where  Honor  was  sitting  by  his  side.  The  poorest 
laborer  was  sure  of  the  S37mpathy  of  one  who  had 
known  all  the  bitterness  of  want  and  the  sweet 
ness  of  bread  earned  by  the  sweat  of  the  brow. 
He  was  ever  the  simple,  plain,  modest  gentleman. 
When  he  met  a  common  soldier  it  was  not  the 
general  or  military  hero  that  met  him,  but  the 
comrade.  When  he  met  the  scholar,  it  was  not 
the  learned  man,  or  the  college  president,  but  the 
learner.  It  was  fitting  that  he  who  found  open 
the  road  through  every  gradation  of  public  honor, 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  529 

from  the  log  cabin  to  the  Presidency,  simply  at  the 
price  of  deserving  it,  should  have  answered  in  the 
same  speech  the  sophistries  of  communism  and  the 
sinister  forebodings  of  Lord  Macaulay.  "  Here," 
he  said,  "  society  is  not  fixed  in  horizontal  layers, 
like  the  crust  of  the  earth,  but  as  a  great  New 
England  man  said  years  ago,  it  is  rather  like  the 
ocean,  broad,  deep,  grand,  open,  and  so  free  in 
all  its  parts  that  every  drop  that  mingles  with  the 
yellow  sand  at  the  bottom,  may  ride  through  all 
the  waters,  till  it  gleams  in  the  sunshine  on  the 
crest  of  the  highest  waves.  So  it  is  here  in  our 
free  society,  permeated  with  the  light  of  American 
freedom.  There  is  no  American  boy,  however 
poor,  however  humble,  orphan  though  he  may  be, 
that,  if  he  have  a  clear  head,  a  true  heart,  a  strong 
arm,  he  may  not  rise  through  all  the  grades  of 
society,  and  become  the  crown,  the  glory,  the 
pillar  of  the  State.  Here  there  is  no  need  for  the 
Old  World  war  between  capital  and  labor.  Here 
is  no  need  of  the  explosion  of  social  order  pre 
dicted  by  Macaulay." 

When  seeking  a  place  of  education  in  the  East, 
young  Garfield  wrote  to  several  New  England  col 
leges.  The  youth's  heart  was  touched,  and  his 
choice  decided  by  the  tone  of  welcome  in  the 
reply  of  Dr.  Hopkins,  the  president  of  Williams. 
It  was  fortunate  that  his  vigorous  youth  found 
itself  under  the  influence  of  a  very  great  but  very 


530  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

simple  and  sincere  character. ,  The  secret  of  Dr. 
Hopkins'  power  over  his  pupils  lay,  first,  in  his 
own  example,  profound  scholarship,  great  prac 
tical  wisdom,  perfect  openness  and  sincerity,  and 
humility;  second,  in  a  careful  study  of  the  dis 
position  of  each  individual  youth;  third,  justice, 
absolute,  yet  accompanied  by  sympathy  and  respect, 
seldom  severity,  never  scorn,  in  dealing  with  the 
errors  of  boyhood.  No  harsh  and  inflexible  Liw, 
cold  and  pitiless  as  a  winter's  sea,  dealt  alike 
with  the  sluggish  and  the  generous  nature.  No 
storm  of  merciless  ridicule  greeted  the  shy,  awk 
ward,  ungainly,  backwoodsman.  And,  beyond 
all,  Dr.  Hopkins  taught  his  pupils  that  lesson 
in  which  some  of  our  colleges  so  sadly  fail  —  rever 
ence  for  the  republican  life  of  which  they  were 
to  form  a  part,  and  for  the  great  history  of  whose 
glory  they  were  inheritors.  It  was  my  fortune, 
on  an  evening  last  spring,  to  see  the  illustrious 
pupil,  I  suppose  for  the  last  time  on  earth,  take 
leave  of  the  aged  teacher  whose  head  the  frosts 
of  nearly  fourscore  winters  had  touched  so  lightly, 
and  to  hear  him  say  at  parting,  "  I  have  felt  your 
presence  at  the  beginning  of  my  administration 
like  a  benediction."  The  President  delighted  in 
his  college.  He  kept  unbroken  the  friendships  he 
formed  within  her  walls.  He  declared  that  the 
place  and  its  associations  were  to  him  a  fountain 
of  perpetual  youth.  He  never  forgot  his  debt 


JAMES   A.   GABFIELD.  531 

to  her.  When  he  was  stricken  down  he  was  on 
his  way,  all  a  boy  again,  to  lay  his  untarnished 
laurels  at  her  feet. 

It  would  have  been  hard  to  find  in  this  country 
a  man  so  well  equipped  by  nature,  by  experience, 
and  by  training,  as  was  Garfield  when  he  entered 
the  Ohio  Senate,  in  1860,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
eight.  He  was  in  his  own  person  the  representa 
tive  of  the  plainest  life  of  the  backwoods  and  the 
best  culture  of  the  oldest  eastern  community.  He 
had  been  used  in  his  youth  to  various  forms  of 
manual  labor.  The  years  which  he  devoted  to 
his  profession  of  teacher  and  of  college  president, 
were  years  of  great  industry,  in  which  he  dis 
ciplined  his  powers  of  public  speaking  and  original 
investigation.  Dr.  Hopkins  said  of  him  :  "  There 
was  a  large  general  capacity  applicable  to  any 
subject  and  sound  sense.  What  he  did  was  done 
with  facility,  but  by  honest  and  avowed  work. 
There  was  no  pretence  of  genius  or  alternation 
of  spasmodic  effort  and  of  rest,  but  a  satisfactory 
accomplishment  in  all  directions  of  what  was 
undertaken."  His  sound  brain  and  athletic  frame 
could  bear  great  labor  without  fatigue.  He  had 
a  thoroughly  healthy  and  robust  intellect,  capable 
of  being  directed  upon  any  of  the  pursuits  of 
life  or  any  of  the  affairs  of  State  in  any  de 
partment  of  the  public  service.  We  have  no 
other  example  in  our  public  life  of  such  mar- 


532  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

vellous  completeness  of  intellectual  development. 
He  exhibited  enough  of  his  varied  mental  capacity 
to  make  it  sure  that  he  could  have  attained  great 
ness  as  a  metaphysician  or  a  mathematician  in  any 
of  the  exact  sciences,  as  a  linguist,  as  an  executive 
officer,  as  he  did  in  fact  attain  it  as  a  military 
commander,  as  an  orator,  as  a  debater  and  a  par 
liamentary  and  popular  leader. 

The  gigantic  scale  on  which  the  operations  of 
our  late  war  were  conducted,  has  dwarfed  some 
what  the  achievements  of  individual  actors.  If 
in  the  history  of  either  of  the  other  wars  in  which 
our  people  have  engaged,  whether  before  or  after 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  such  a  chapter 
should  be  found  as  the  narrative  of  Garfield's 
Kentucky  campaign,  it  would  alone  have  made 
the  name  of  its  leader  immortal.  It  is  said  that 
General  Rosecrans  received  the  young  school 
master  with  some  prejudice.  "  When  he  came  to 
my  headquarters,"  he  says,  "I  must  confess  that 
I  had  a  prejudice  against  him,  as  I  understood  he 
was  a  preacher  who  had  gone  into  politics,  and  a 
man  of  that  cast  I  was  naturally  opposed  to."  In 
his  official  report  Rosecrans  says :  — 

"  I  especially  mention  Brigadier-General  Garfield,  ever 
active,  prudent  and  sagacious.  I  feel  much  indebted  to  him 
for  both  counsel  and  assistance  in  the  administration  of  this 
army.  He  possesses  the  energy  and  the  instinct  of  a  great 
commander." 


JAMES   A.   GABFIELD.  533 

We  must  leave  to  soldiers  and  to  military  his 
torians  to  assign  their  relative  historic  importance 
to  the  movements  of  the  war.  But  we  may  safely 
trust  the  popular  judgment  which  pronounces 
Gal-field's  ride  at  Chickamauga  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  instances  of  personal  heroism,  and 
the  Kentucky  campaign  a  most  brilliant  example 
of  fertility  of  resource,  combined  audacity  and 
prudence,  sound  military  judgment,  and  success 
against  great  odds.  We  may  safely  trust,  too,  the 
judgment  of  the  accomplished  historian,  who  pro 
nounces  his  report  in  favor  of  the  advance  that 
ended  with  the  battle  of  Chickamauga  "  the  ablest 
military  document  submitted  by  a  chief  of  staff  to 
his  superior  during  the  war."  We  may  accept, 
also,  the  award  of  Lincoln,  who  made  him  major- 
general  for  his  brilliant  service  at  Chickamauga, 
and  the  confidence  of  Thomas,  who  offered  him 
the  command  of  an  army  corps.  Great  as  was  his 
capacity  for  military  service,  the  judgment  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  did  not  err,  when  it  summoned 
him  to  the  field  of  labor  where  his  greatest  laurels 
were  won.  It  is  the  fashion,  in  some  quarters,  to 
lament  the  decay  of  statesmanship,  and  to  make 
comparisons,  by  no  means  complimentary,  be 
tween  persons  now  entrusted  with  the  conduct  of 
public  affairs,  and  their  predecessors.  We  may 
at  least  find  consolation  in  the  knowledge  that 
when  any  of  our  companions  die,  they  do  not  fail 


534  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

to  receive  full  justice  from  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Suppose  any  of  the  statesmen  who  preceded  the 
war,  or  some  intelligent  and  not  unfriendly  foreign 
observer  —  some  DeTocqueville  or  Macaulay  —  to 
look  forward  with  Garfield  to  the  duties  which 
confronted  him  when  he  entered  Congress  in  1863. 
With  what  despair,  in  the  light  of  all  past  experi 
ence,  would  he  have  contemplated  the  future. 
How  insignificant  the  difficulties  which  beset  the 
men  of  the  preceding  seventy  years  compared  with 
those  which  have  crowded  the  seventeen  which 
were  to  follow.  How  marvellous  the  success  the 
American  people  have  achieved  in  dealing  with 
these  difficulties  compared  with  that  which  at 
tended  the  statesmanship  of  the  times  of  Webster 
and  Clay  and  Calhoun,  giants  as  they  were.  The 
greatness  of  these  men  is  not  likely  to  be  under 
valued  anywhere ;  least  of  all  in  Massachusetts. 
They  contributed  each  in  his  own  way  those  mas 
terly  discussions  of  the  great  principles  by  which 
the  Constitution  must  be  interpreted,  and  the 
economic  laws  on  which  material  prosperity  de 
pends,  which  will  abide  as  perpetual  forces  so  long 
as  the  republic  shall  endure.  Mr.  Webster,  espe 
cially,  aided  in  establishing  in  the  jurisprudence  of 
the  country  the  great  judgments,  which,  on  the 
one  hand,  asserted  for  the  national  government  its 
most  necessary  and  beneficent  powers,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  protected  property  and  liberty 


JAMES   A.    GAKFIELD.  535 

from  invasion.  He  uttered  in  the  Senate  the  im 
mortal  argument  which  convinced  the  American 
people  of  the  unity  of  the  republic  and  the  suprem 
acy  and  indestructibility  of  the  national  authority. 
It  has  been  well  said  that  the  cannon  of  the  nation 
were  shotted  with  the  reply  to  Hayne.  But  the 
only  important  and  permanent  measure  with  which 
the  name  of  Webster  is  connected  is  the  Ashbur- 
ton  treaty  —  an  achievement  of  diplomacy  of  little 
consequence  in  comparison  with  those  which  ob 
tained  from  the  great  powers  of  Europe  the  relin- 
quishment  of  the  doctrine  of  perpetual  allegiance, 
or  with  the  Alabama  treaty  of  1871.  Mr.  Clay's 
life  was  identified  with  two  great  policies  —  the 
protection  of  American  industry,  and  the  com 
promise  between  slavery  and  freedom  in  their 
strife  for  control  of  the  Territories.  When  he  died 
the  free-trade  tariff  of  1844  was  the  law  of  the 
land,  and  within  two  years  the  Missouri  compro 
mise  was  repealed.  Mr.  Calhoun  has  left  behind 
him  the  memory  of  a  stainless  life,  great  intellectual 
power  and  a  lost  cause. 

To  each  generation  is  committed  its  peculiar 
task.  To  these  men  it  was  given  to  wake  the 
infant  republic  to  a  sense  of  its  own  great  destiny, 
and  to  teach  it  the  laws  of  its  being,  by  which  it 
must  live  or  bear  no  life.  To  the  men  of  our  time 
the  abstract  theories,  which  were  only  debated  in 
other  days,  have  come  as  practical  realities,  demand- 


536  LEFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

ing  prompt  and  final  decision  on  questions  where 
error  is  fatal.  From  the  time  of  Jay's  treaty  no 
such  problem  has  presented  itself  to  American 
diplomacy  as  that  which  the  war  left  as  its  legacy. 
The  strongest  power  on  earth,  accustomed,  in  deal 
ing  with  other  nations,  to  take  counsel  only  of  her 
pride  and  her  strength,  had  inflicted  on  us  vast 
iujury,  of  which  the  honor  of  this  country  seemed 
pledged  to  insist  on  reparation,  which  England  con 
ceived  hers  equally  pledged  to  deny.  But  in  domes 
tic  affairs  the  difficulties  were  even  greater.  For  six 
of  the  sixteen  years  that  followed  the  death  of 
Lincoln,  the  President  was  not  in  political  accord 
with  either  house  of  Congress.  For  four  others 
the  house  was  of  different  politics  from  President 
and  Senate.  During  the  whole  time  the  dominant 
party  had  to  encounter  a  zealous  and  able  oppo 
sition,  and  to  submit  its  measures  to  a  people  hav 
ing  apparently  the  strongest  inducements  to  go 
wrong.  The  rights  of  capital  were  to  be  deter 
mined  by  the  votes  of  labor ;  debtors  to  fix  the 
value  of  their  payments  to  their  creditors ;  a  people 
under  no  constraint  but  their  own  sense  of  duty 
to  determine  whether  they  would  continue  to  bear 
the  weight  of  a  vast  debt ;  the  policy  of  dealing 
with  the  conquered  to  be  decided  at  the  close  of 
a  long  war  by  the  votes  of  the  conquerors,  among 
whom  every  other  family  was  in  mourning  for  its 
dead,  finance  and  currency  with  their  subtleties, 


JAMES    A.    GAE FIELD.  537 

surpassing  the  subtleties  of  metaphysics  to  be 
made  clear  to  the  apprehension  of  plain  men  ;  busi 
ness  to  be  recalled  from  the  dizzy  and  dangerous 
heights  of  speculation  to  moderate  gains  and  safo 
laws ;  great  public  ways  connecting  distant  oceans 
to  be  built ;  commerce  to  be  diverted  into  unac 
customed  channels ;  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
to  be  opened ;  a  great  banking  system  to  be  devised 
and  put  in  operation,  such  as  was  never  known 
before,  alike  comprehensive  and  safe,  through 
whose  veins  and  arteries  credit,  the  life-blood  of 
trade  should  ebb  and  flow  in  the  remotest  extrem 
ities  of  the  land ;  four  millions  of  people  to  be 
raised  from  slavery  to  citizenship  ;  millions  more 
to  be  welcomed  from  foreign  lands  ;  a  disputed 
presidential  succession  to  be  settled,  after  an  elec 
tion  contest  in  which  the  country  seemed  turned 
into  two  hostile  camps,  by  a  tribunal  for  which 
the  founders  of  the  government  .had  made  no  pro 
vision  ;  all  this  to  be  accomplished  under  the 
restraints  of  a  written  Constitution. 

When  this  list  has  been  enumerated  the  eulogy 
of  Garfield  the  statesman  has  been  spoken.  There 
is  scarcely  one  of  these  questions,  certainly  not 
more  than  one  or  two,  which  he  did  not  antici 
pate,  carefully  and  thoroughly  study  for  himself 
before  it  arose,  and  to  which  he  did  not  contrib 
ute  an  original  argument,  unsurpassed  in  persua 
sive  force.  Undoubtedly  there  were  others  who 


538  LITE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

had  more  to  do  with  marshalling  the  political 
forces  of  the  house.  But  almost  from  the  time 
he  entered  it  he  was  the  leader  of  its  best  thought. 
He  was  ever  serious,  grave,  addressing  himself 
only  to  the  reason  and  conscience  of  his  auditors. 
He  lived  in  a  State  whose  people  were  evenly 
divided  in  politics,  and  on  whose  decision,  as  it 
swayed  alternately  from  side  to  side,  the  fate  of 
the  country  often  seemed  to  depend.  You  will 
search  his  speeches  in  vain  for  an  appeal  to  a 
base  motive  or  an  evil  passion.  Many  men  who 
are  called  great  political  leaders  are  really  nothing 
but  great  political  followers.  They  study  the 
currents  of  a  public  sentiment  which  other  men 
form.  They  use  as  instruments  opinions  which 
they  never  espoused  till  they  became  popular. 
General  Garfield  always  consulted  with  great  caro 
the  temper  of  the  house  in  the  conduct  of  meas 
ures  which  were  under  his  charge.  But  he  was 
remarkabty  independent  in  forming  his  judgments, 
and  inflexible  in  adhering  to  them  on  all  great 
essential  questions.  His  great  friend  and  com 
mander,  General  Thomas,  whose  stubborn  courage 
saved  the  day  in  the  great  battle  for  the  possession 
of  Tennessee,  was  well-called  the  "  rock  of  Chicka- 
mauga."  In  the  greater-  battle  in  1876  for  the 
nation's  honor,  Garfield  well  deserved  to  be  called 
the  "  rock  of  Ohio."  Everything  he  did  and  said 
manifested  the  serious,  reverent  love  of  excellent. 


JAMES    A.    GARFIELD.  539 

He  had  occasion  often  to  seek  to  win  to  his  opin 
ions  masses  of  men  composed  largely  of  illiterate 
persons.  No  man  ever  heard  from  his  lips  a  sneer 
at  scholarship.  At  the  same  time,  he  never  made 
the  scholar's  mistake  of  undervaluing  the  great 
ness  of  the  history  of  his  own  country,  or  the 
quality  of  his  own  people. 

The  limits  of  this  discourse  do  not  permit  me  to 
enter  into  the  detail  of  the  variety  and  extent  of 
his  service  in  debate,  in  legislation,  and  in  discus 
sions  before  the  people.  I  could  detain  you  until 
midnight  were  I  to  recount  from  my  own  memory 
the  great  labors  of  the  twelve  years  that  it  was  my 
privilege  to  share  with  him  in  the  public  service, 
for  four  of  which  I  sat  almost  by  his  side.  Every 
body  who  had  a  new  thought  brought  it  to  him  for 
hospitable  welcome.  Did  science  or  scholarship 
need  anything  of  the  government,  Garfield  was  the 
man  to  whom  they  came.  While  charged  with 
the  duty  of  supervising  the  details  of  present  leg 
islation  he  was  always  foreseeing  and  preparing  for 
the  future.  In  the  closing  years  of  the  war,  while 
chairman  of  the  committee  of  military  affairs,  he 
was  studying  finance.  Later  he  had  prepared 
himself  to  deal  with  the  defects  in  the  civil  service. 
I  do  not  think  the  legislation  of  the  next  twenty 
years  will  more  than  reach  the  ground  which  he 
had  already  occupied  in  his  advanced  thought. 

General  Garfield  gave  evidence  of  vast  powers 


540  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SEE-VICES   OF 

of  oratory  on  some  very  memorable  occasions 
But  he  made  almost  no  use  of  them  as  a  means  oi 
persuading  the  people  to  conclusions  where  greal 
public  interests  were  at  stake.  Sincerity,  direct 
ness,  full  and  perfect  understanding  of  his  subject, 
clear  logic,  manly  dignity,  simple  and  apt  illustra 
tion,  marked  all  his  discourse.  But  on  a  few  greal 
occasions,  such  as  that  in  New  York,  when  the 
people  were  moved  almost  to  frenzy  by  the  assassi 
nation  of  Lincoln,  or  in  the  storm  which  moved 
the  great  human  ocean  at  the  convention  at  Chi 
cago,  he  showed  that  he  could  touch  with  a  mas 
ter's  hands  the  chords  of  that  mighty  instrument — 

"Such  as  raised 

To  height  of  noblest  temper  heroes  old, 
Arming  to  battle,  and  instead  of  rage 
Deliberate  valor  breathed,  firm  and  unmoved 
With  dread  of  death  to  flight  or  foul  retreat; 
Kor  wanting  power  to  mitigate  and  suage 
With  solemn  touches,  troubled  thoughts,  and  chase 
Anguish  and  doubt  and  fear  and  sorrow  and  pain 
From  mortal  or  immortal  minds." 

When  General  Garfield  took  the  oath  of  office 
as  President,  he  seemed  to  those  who  knew  him 
best,  though  in  his  fiftieth  year,  still  in  the  prime 
of  a  splendid  and  vigorous  youth.  He  was  stil] 
growing.  We  hoped  for  him  eight  years  of  brill 
iant  administration,  and  then,  in  some  form  oi 
place  of  service,  an  old  age  like  that  of  Adams, 
whom,  in  variety  of  equipment,  alone  of  our  Pres- 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  541 

idents  he  resembled.  What  was  best  and  purest 
and  loftiest  in  the  aspiration  of  America  seemed  at 
last  to  have  laid  its  hand  on  the  helm.  Under  its 
beneficent  rule  we  hoped,  as  our  country  entered 
on  its  new  career  of  peace  and  prosperity,  a  nobler 
liberty,  a  better  friendship,  a  purer  justice,  a  more 
lasting  brotherhood.  But  he  was  called  to  a  sub- 
limer  destiny.  He  had  ascended  along  and  up  the 
heights  of  service,  of  success,  of  greatness,  of 
glory;  ever  raised  by  the  people  to  higher  ranks 
for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  on  each  field, 
until  by  their  suffrages  he  stood  foremost  among 
men  of  the  foremost  among  nations.  But  in  the 
days  of  his  sickness  and  death  he  became  the  per 
petual  witness  and  example  how  much  greater 
than  the  achievements  of  legislative  halls,  or  the 
deeds  of  the  field  of  battle,  are  the  household  vir 
tues  and  simple  family  affections  which  all  men 
have  within  their  reach ;  how  much  greater  than 
the  lessons  of  the  college  or  the  camp,  or  the  con 
gress,  are  the  lessons  learned  at  mother's  knees. 
The  honors  paid  to  Garfield  are  the  protest  of  a 
better  age  and  a  better  generation  against  the  vul 
gar  heroisms  of  the  past.  Go  through  their  mauso 
leums  and  under  their  triumphal  arches,  and  see 
how  the  names  inscribed  there  shrink  and  shrivel 
compared  with  that  of  this  Christian  soldier,  whose 
chiefest  virtues,  after  all,  are  of  the  fireside  and  the 
family  circle,  and  of  the  dying  bed.  Here  the 


542  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

hero  of  America  becomes  the  hero  of  humanity. 
We  are  justified,  then,  in  saying  of  this  man  that 
he  has  been  tried  and  tested  in  every  mode  by 
which  the  quality  of  a  human  heart  and  the  capac 
ity  of  a  human  intellect  can  be  disclosed ;  by 
adversity,  by  prosperity,  by  poverty,  by  wealth,  by 
leadership  in  deliberative  assemblies,  and  in  the 
perilous  edge  of  battle,  by  the  height  of  power  and 
of  fame.  The  essay  was  to  be  completed  by  the 
certain  and  visible  approach  of  death.  As  he  comes 
out  into  the  sunlight,  more  and  more  clearly  does 
his  country  behold  a  greatness  and  symmetry 
which  she  is  to  see  in  their  true  and  full  propor 
tions  only  when  he  lies  in  the  repose  of  death. 

"  As  sometimes  in  a  dead  man's  face, 
To  those  that  watch  it  more  and  more, 
A  likeness,  hardly  seen  before, 

Comes  out,  to  some  one  of  his  race, 

So,  dearest,  now  thy  brows  are  cold, 
I  see  thee  what  thou  art,  and  know 
Thy  likeness  to  the  wise  below, 

Thy  kindred  with  the  great  of  old." 

Let  us  not  boast  at  the  funeral  of  our  dead. 
Such  a  temper  would  be  doubly  odious  in  the  pres 
ence  of  such  expressions  of  hearty  sympathy  from 
governments  of  every  form.  But  we  should  be 
unfaithful  to  ourselves  if  in  asking  for  this  man  a 
place  in  the  world's  gallery  of  illustrious  names  we 
did  not  declare  that  we  offer  him  as  an  example  of 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  543 

the  products  of  Freedom.  With  steady  and  even 
step  he  walked  from  the  log-cabin  and  the  canal- 
path  to  the  school,  to  the  college,  to  the  battle 
field,  to  the  halls  of  legislation,  to  the  White 
House,  to  the  chamber  of  death.  The  ear  in  which 
the  voices  of  his  countrymen,  hailing  him  at  the 
pinnacle  of  human  glory  had  scarcely  died  out, 
heard  the  voice  of  the  dread  archangel,  and  his 
countenance  did  not  change.  Is  not  that  country 
worth  dying  for  whose  peasantry  are  of  such  a 
strain?  Is  not  the  Constitution  worth  standing 
by  under  whose  forms  Freedom  calls  such  men  to 
her  high  places?  Is  not  the  Union  worth  saving 
which  gives  all  of  us  the  property  of  countrymen 
in  such  a  fame  ? 


544  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES  OF 


IV. 
HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE'S  EULOGY. 

MB.  PRESIDENT  :  For  the  second  time  in  this 
generation  the  great  departments  of  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  are  assembled  in  the 
Hall  of  Representatives  to  do  honor  to  the  mem 
ory  of  a  murdered  President.  Lincoln  fell  at  the 
close  of  a  mighty  struggle  in  which  the  passions 
of  men  had  been  deeply  stirred.  The  tragical  ter 
mination  of  his  great  life  added  but  another  to  the 
lengthened  succession  of  horrors  which  had 
marked  so  many  lintels  with  the  blood  of  the  first 
born.  Garfield  was  slain  in  a  day  of  peace,  when 
brother  had  been  reconciled  to  brother,  and  when 
anger  and  hate  had  been  banished  from  the  land. 
u  Whoever  shall  hereafter  draw  the  portrait  of 
murder,  if  he  will  show  it  as  it  has  been  exhibited 
where  such  example  was  last  to  have  been  looked 
for,  let  him  not  give  it  the  grim  visage  of  Moloch, 
the  brow  knitted  by  revenge,  the  face  black  with 
settled  hate.  Let  him  draw,  rather,  a  decorous, 
smooth-faced,  bloodless  demon  ;  not  so  much  an 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  545 

example  of  human  nature  in  its  depravity  and  in 
its  paroxysms  of  crime,  as  an  infernal  being,  a 
fiend  in  the  ordinary  display  and  development  of 
his  character." 

From  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth 
till  the  uprising  against  Charles  First,  about  twenty 
thousand  emigrants  came  from  Old  England  to 
New  England.  As  they  came  in  pursuit  of  intel 
lectual  freedom  and  ecclesiastical  independence 
rather  than  for  worldly  honor  and  profit,  the  emi 
gration  naturally  ceased  when  the  contest  for  relig 
ious  liberty  began  in  earnest  at  home.  The  man 
who  struck  his  most  effective  blow  for  freedom  of 
conscience  by  sailing  for  the  colonies  in  1620  would 
have  been  accounted  a  deserter  to  leave  after  1640. 
The  opportunity  had  then  come  on  the  soil  of  Eng 
land  for  that  great  contest  which  established  the 
authority  of  Parliament,  gave  religious  freedom  to 
the  people,  sent  Charles  to  the  block,  and  com 
mitted  to  the  hands  of  Oliver  Cromwell  the 
Supreme  Executive  authority  of  England.  The 
English  emigration  was  never  renewed,  and  from 
these  twenty  thousand  men  with  a  small  emigra 
tion  from  Scotland  and  from  France  are  descended 
the  vast  numbers  who  have  New  England  blood  in 
their  veins. 

In  1685  the  revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantes 
by  Louis  XIV.  scattered  to  other  countries  four 


546  LIFE  AND   PCTBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

hundred  thousand  Protestants,  who  were  among 
the  most  intelligent  and  enterprising  of  French 
subjects — merchants  of  capital,  skilled  manufact 
urers  and  handicraftsmen,  superior  at  the  time  tc 
all  others  in  Europe.  A  considerable  number  oi 
these  Huguenot  French  came  to  America  ;  a  few 
landed  in  New  England  and  became  honorably 
prominent  in  its  history.  Their  names  have  in 
large  part  become  anglicized,  or  have  disappeared, 
but  their  blood  is  traceable  in  many  of  the  most 
reputable  families,  and  their  fame  is  perpetuated 
in  honorable  memorials  and  useful  institutions. 

From  these  two  sources,  the  English-Puritan 
and  the  French-Huguenot,  came  the  late  President 
—  his  father,  Abram  Garfield,  being  descended 
from  the  one,  and  his  mother,  Eliza  Ballou,  from 
the  other. 

It  was  good  stock  on  both  sides  —  none  better, 
none  braver,  none  truer.  There  was  in  it  an  in 
heritance  of  courage,  of  manliness,  of  imperishable 
love  of  liberty,  of  undying  adherence  to  principle. 
Garfield  was  proud  of  his  blood ;  and,  with  as 
much  satisfaction  as  if  he  were  a  British  nobleman 
reading  his  stately  ancestral  record  in  Burke's 
Peerage,  he  spoke  of  himself  as  ninth  in  descent 
from  those  who  would  not  endure  the  oppression 
of  the  Stuarts,  and  seventh  in  descent  from  the 
brave  French  Protestants  who  refused  to  submit 
to  tyranny  even  from  the  Grand  Monarque. 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  547 

General  Garfield  delighted  to  dwell  on  these 
traits,  and,  during  his  only  visit  to  England,  he 
busied  himself  in  discovering  every  trace  of  his 
forefathers  in  parish  registries  and  on  ancient 
army  rolls.  Sitting  with  a  friend  in  the  gallery 
of  the  House  of  Commons  one  night  after  a  long 
day's  labor  in  this  field  of  research,  he  said  with 
evident  elation  that  in  every  war  in  which  for 
three  centuries  patriots  of  English  blood  had 
struck  sturdy  blows  for  constitutional  government 
and  human  liberty,  his  family  had  been  repre 
sented.  They  were  at  Marston  Moor,  at  Naseby 
and  at  Preston ;  they  were  at  Bunker  Hill,  at 
Saratoga  and  at  Monmouth,  and  in  his  own  person 
had  battled  for  the  same  great  cause  in  the  war 
which  preserved  the  Union  of  the  States. 

Losing  his  father  before  he  was  two  years  old, 
the  early  life  of  Garfield  was  one  of  privation,  but 
its  poverty  has  been  made  indelicately  and  unjustly 
prominent.  Thousands  of  readers  have  imagined 
him  as  the  ragged,  starving  child,  whose  reality  too 
often  greets  the  eye  in  the  squalid  sections  of  our 
large  cities.  General  Garfield's  infancy  and  youth 
had  none  of  their  destitution,  none  of  their  pitiful 
features  appealing  to  the  tender  heart  and  to  the 
open  hand  of  charity.  He  was  a  poor  boy  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  Henry  Clay  was  a  poor  boy ; 
in  which  Andrew  Jackson  was  a  poor  boy  ;  in 
which  Daniel  Webster  was  a  poor  boy:  in  the 


548  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

sense  in  which  a  large  majority  of  the  eminent 
men  of  America  in  all  generations,  have  been  poor 
boys.  Before  a  great  multitude  of  men,  in  a 
public  speech,  Mr.  Webster  bore  this  testimon}'  : 

"  It  did  not  happen  to  me  to  be  born  in  a  log 
cabin,  but  my  elder  brothers  and  sisters  were  born 
in  a  log  cabin  raised  amid  the  snowdrifts  of  New 
Hampshire,  at  a  period  so  early  that  when  the 
smoke  rose  first  from  its  rude  chimney  and  curled 
over  the  frozen  hills  there  was  no  similar  evidence 
of  a  white  man's  habitation  between  it  and  the 
settlements  on  the  rivers  of  Canada.  Its  remains 
still  exist.  I  make  to  it  an  annual  visit.  I  carry 
my  children  to  it  to  teach  them  the  hardships 
endured  by  the  generations  which  have  gone 
before  them.  I  love  to  dwell  on  the  tender  recol 
lections,  the  kindred  ties,  the  early  affections,  and 
the  touching  narratives  and  incidents  which  mingle 
with  all  I  know  of  this  primitive  family  abode." 

With  the  requisite  change  of  scene,  the  same 
words  would  aptly  portray  the  early  days  of  Gar- 
field.  The  poverty  of  the  frontier,  where  all  are 
engaged  in  a  common  struggle,  and  where  a  com 
mon  sympathy  and  hearty  cooperation  lighten  the 
burdens  of  each,  is  a  very  different  poverty ;  differ 
ent  in  kind,  different  in  influence  and  effect,  from 
that  conscious  and  humiliating  indigence  which  is 
every  day  forced  to  contrast  itself  with  neighboring 
wealth,  on  which  it  feels  a  sense  of  grinding 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  549 

dependence.  The  poverty  of  the  frontier  is  indeed 
no  poverty.  It  is  but  the  beginning  of  'wealth, 
and  has  the  boundless  possibilities  of  the  future 
always  opening  before  it.  No  man  ever  grew  up 
in  the  agricultural  regions  of  the  West,  where  a 
house-raising,  or  even  a  corn-husking,  is  matter  of 
common  interest  and  helpfulness,  with  any  other 
feeling  than  that  of  broad-minded,  generous  inde 
pendence.  This  honorable  independence  marked 
the  youth  of  Garfield,  as  it  marks  the  youth  of 
millions  of  the  best  blood  and  brain  now  training 
for  the  future  citizenship  and  future  government 
of  the  republic.  Garfield  wras  born  heir  to  land,  to 
the  title  of  free-holder,  which  has  been  the  patent 
and  passport  of  self-respect  with  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race  ever  since  Hengist  and  Horsa  landed  on  the 
shores  of  England.  His  adventure  on  the  canal 
—  an  alternative  between  that  and  the  deck  of  a 
Lake  Erie  schooner  —  was  a  farmer  boy's  device 
for  earning  money,  just  as  the  New  England  lad 
begins  a  possibly  greater  career  by  sailing  before 
the  mast  on  a  coasting  vessel  or  on  a  merchant 
man  bound  to  the  farther  India  or  to  the  China 
Seas. 

No  manly  man  feels  anything  of  shame  in  look 
ing  back  to  early  struggles  with  adverse  circum 
stances,  and  no  man  feels  a  worthier  pride  than 
when  he  has  conquered  the  obstacles  to  his  prog 
ress.  But  no  one  of  noble  mould  desires  to  be 


550  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

looked  upon  as  having  occupied  a  menial  position, 
as  having  been  repressed  by  a  feeling  of  inferiority, 
or  as  having  suffered  the  evils  of  poverty  until 
relief  was  found  at  the  hand  of  charity.  General 
Garfield's  youth  presented  no  hardships  which 
family  love  and  family  energy  did  not  over 
come,  subjected  him  to  no  privations  which  he  did 
not  cheerfully  accept,  and  left  no  memories  save 
those  which  were  recalled  with  delight,  and  trans 
mitted  with  profit  and  with  pride. 

Garfield's  early  opportunities  for  securing  an 
education  were  extremely  limited,  and  yet  were 
sufficient  to  develop  in  him  an  intense  desire  to 
learn.  He  could  read  at  three  years  of  age,  and 
each  winter  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  district 
school.  He  read  all  the  books  to  be  found  within 
the  circle  of  his  acquaintance  ;  some  of  them  he 
got  by  heart.  While  yet  in  childhood  he  was  a 
constant  student  of  the  Bible,  and  became  familiar 
with  its  literature.  The  dignity  and  earnestness 
of  his  speech  in  his  maturer  life  gave  evidence  of 
this  early  training.  At  eighteen  years  of  age  he 
was  able  to  teach  school,  and  thenceforward  his 
ambition  was  to  obtain  a  college  education.  To 
this  end  he  bent  all  his  efforts,  working  in  the 
harvest  field,  at  the  carpenter's  bench,  and,  in  the 
winter  season,  teaching  the  common  schools  of  the 
neighborhood.  While  thus  laboriously  occupied 
he  found  time  to  prosecute  his  studies,  and  was  so 


JAMES   A.  GABFIELD.  551 

successful  that  at  twenty-two  years  of  age  he  was 
able  to  enter  the  junior  class  at  Williams  College, 
then  under  the  presidency  of  the  venerable  and 
honored  Mark  Hopkins,  who,  in  the  fullness  of  his 
powers,  survives  the  eminent  pupil  to  whom  he 
was  of  inestimable  service. 

The  history  of  Garfield's  life  to  this  period,  pre 
sents  no  novel  features.  He  had  undoubtedly 
shown  perseverance,  self-reliance,  self-sacrifice,  and 
ambition,  qualities,  which,  be  it  said  for  the 
honor  of  our  country,  are  everywhere  to  be  found 
among  the  young  men  of  America.  But  from  his 
graduation  at  Williams  onward,  to  the  hour  of  his 
tragical  death,  Garfield's  career  was  eminent  and 
exceptional.  Slowly  working  through  his  educa 
tional  period,  receiving  his  diploma  when  twenty- 
four  years  of  age,  he  seemed  as  one  bound  to 
spring  into  conspicuous  and  brilliant  success. 
Within  six  j^ears  he  was  successively  president  of 
a  college,  State  Senator  of  Ohio,  major-general  of 
the  army  of  the  United  States,  and  Representative 
elect  to  the  National  Congress.  A  combination  of 
honors  so  varied,  so  elevated,  within  a  period  so 
brief  and  to  a  man  so  young,  is  without  precedent 
or  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  country. 

Garfield's  army  life  was  begun  with  no  other 
military  knowledge  than  such  as  he  had  hastily 
gained  from  books  in  the  few  months  preceding 
his  march  to  the  field.  Stepping  from  civil  life  to 


552  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

the  head  of  a  regiment,  the  first  order  he  received 
when  ready  to  cross  the  Ohio  was  to  assume  com 
mand  of  a  brigade,  and  to  operate  as  an  indepen 
dent  force  in  Eastern  Kentucky.  His  immediate 
duty  was  to  check  the  advance  of  Humphrey 
Marshall,  who  was  marching  down  the  Big  Sandy 
with  the  intention  of  occupying,  in  connection 
with  other  confederate  forces,  the  entire  territory 
of  Kentucky,  and  of  precipitating  the  State  into 
secession.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  year  1861. 
Seldom,  if  ever,  has  a  young  college  professor  been 
thrown  into  a  more  embarrassing  and  discourag 
ing  position.  He  knew  just  enough  of  military 
science,  as  he  expressed  it  himself,  to  measure  the 
extent  of  his  ignorance,  and  with  a  handful  of 
men  he  was  marching,  in  rough  winter  weather, 
into  a  strange  country,  among  a  hostile  population, 
to  confront  a  largely  superior  force  under  the 
command  of  a  distinguished  graduate  of  West 
Point,  who  had  seen  active  and  important  service 
in  two  preceding  wars. 

The  result  of  the  campaign  is  matter  of  history. 
The  skill,  the  endurance,  the  extraordinary  energy 
shown  by  Garfield,  the  courage  he  imparted  to  his 
men,  raw  and  untried  as  himself,  the  measures  he 
adopted  to  increase  his  force  and  to  create  in  the 
enemy's  mind  exaggerated  estimates  of  his  num 
bers,  bore  perfect  fruit  in  the  routing  of  Marshall, 
the  capture  of  his  camp,  the  dispersion  of  his 


JAMES   A.    GARFIELD.  653 

force,  and  the  emancipation  of  an  important  terri 
tory  from  the  control  of  the  rebellion.  Coming 
at  the  close  of  a  long  series  of  disasters  to  the 
Union  arms,  Garfield's  victory  had  an  unusual 
and  extraneous  importance,  and  in  the  popular 
judgment  elevated  the  young  commander  to  the 
rank  of  a  military  hero.  With  less  than  two 
thousand  men  in  his  entire  command,  with  a  mob 
ilized  force  of  only  eleven  hundred,  without  can 
non,  he  had  met  an  army  of  five  thousand  and 
defeated  them  —  driving  Marshall's  forces  success 
ively  from  two  strongholds  of  their  own  selection, 
fortified  with  abundant  artillery.  Major-Genera} 
Buell,  commanding  the  Department  of  the 
Ohio,  an  experienced  and  able  soldier  of  the 
regular  army,  published  an  order  of  thanks  and 
congratulation  on  the  brilliant  result  of  the  Big 
Sandy  campaign,  which  would  have  turned  the 
head  of  a  less  cool  and  sensible  man  than  Garfield. 
Buell  declared  that  his  services  had  called  into 
action  the  highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  and 
President  Lincoln  supplemented  these  words  of 
praise  by  the  more  substantial  reward  of  a  briga 
dier-general's  commission,  to  bear  date  from  the 
day  of  his  decisive  victory  over  Marshall. 

The  subsequent  military  career  of  Garfield  fully 
sustained  its  brilliant  beginning.  With  his  new 
commission  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  a 
brigade  in  the  Army  of  the  Ohio,  and  took  part 


554  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OP 

in  the  second  and  decisive  day's  fight  in  the  great 
battle  of  Shiloh.  The  remainder  of  the  year  1862 
was  not  especially  eventful  to  Garfield,  as  it  was 
not  to  the  armies  with  which  he  was  serving.  His 
practical  sense  was  called  into  exercise  in  com 
pleting  the  task  assigned  him  by  General  Buell, 
of  reconstructing  bridges  and  reestablishing  lines 
of  railway  communication  for  the  army.  His 
occupation  in  this  useful  but  not  brilliant  field 
was  varied  by  service  on  courts-martial  of  impor 
tance,  in  which  department  of  duty  he  won  a 
valuable  reputation  attracting  the  notice  and 
securing  the  approval  of  the  able  and  eminent 
Judge  Advocate  General  of  the  Army.  That  of 
itself  was  warrant  to  honorable  fame ;  for  among 
the  great  men  who  in  those  trying  days  gave 
themselves,  with  entire  devotion,  to  the  service  of 
their  country,  one  who  brought  to  that  service 
the  ripest  learning,  the  most  fervid  eloquence,  the 
most  varied  attainments,  who  labored  with  modesty 
and  shunned  applause,  who,  in  the  day  of  triumph, 
sat  reserved  and  silent  and  grateful  —  as  Francis 
Deak  in  the  hour  of  Hungary's  deliverance  —  was 
Joseph  Holt,  of  Kentucky,  who,  in  his  honorable 
retirement,  enjoys  the  respect  and  veneration  of 
all  who  love  the  Union  of  the  States. 

Early  in  1863  Garfield  was  assigned  to  the 
highly  important  and  responsible  post  of  chief 
of  staff  to  General  Rosecrans,  then  at  the  head 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  555 

of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  Perhaps  in  a 
great  military  campaign  no  subordinate  officer 
requires  sounder  judgment  and  quicker  knowledge 
of  men  than  the  chief  of  staff  to  the  command 
ing  general.  An  indiscreet  man  in  such  a  position 
can  sow  more  discord,  breed  more  jealousy,  and 
disseminate  more  strife,  than  any  other  officer  in 
the  entire  organization.  When  General  Garfield 
assumed  his  new  duties,  he  found  various  troubles 
already  well  developed  and  seriously  effecting  the 
value  and  efficiency  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumber 
land.  The  energy,  the  impartiality,  and  the  tact 
with  which  he  sought  to  allay  these  dissensions, 
and  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  new  and  trying 
position,  will  always  remain  one  of  the  most 
striking  proofs  of  his  great  versatility.  His  mili 
tary  duties  closed  on  the  memorable  field  of 
Chickamauga,  a  field  which,  however  disastrous 
to  the  Union  arms,  gave  to  him  the  occasion  of 
winning  imperishable  laurels.  The  very  rare  dis 
tinction  was  accorded  him  of  a  great  promotion 
for  his  bravery  on  a  field  that  was  lost.  President 
Lincoln  appointed  him  a  major-general  in  the  army 
of  the  United  States  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
conduct  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga. 

The  Army  of  the  Cumberland  was  reorganized 
under  the  command  of  General  Thomas,  who 
promptly  offered  Garfield  one  of  its  divisions.  He 
was  extremely  desirous  to  accept  the  position, 


556  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

but  was  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  he  had,  a 
year  before,  been  elected  to  Congress,  and  the 
time  when  he  must  take  his  seat  was  drawing 
near.  He  preferred  to  remain  in  the  military  ser 
vice,  and  had  within  his  own  breast  the  largest 
confidence  of  success  in  the  wider  field  which  his 
new  rank  opened  to  him.  Balancing  the  argu 
ments  on  the  one  side  and  the  other,  anxious  to 
determine  what  was  for  the  best,  desirious  above 
all  things  to  do  his  patriotic  duty,  he  was  deci 
sively  influenced  by  the  advice*  of  President  Lin 
coln  and  Secretary  Stanton,  both  of  whom  assured 
him  that  he  could,  at  that  time,  be  of  especial 
value  in  the  House  of  Representatives.  He  resigned 
his  commission  of  major-general  on  the  fifth  da}'  of 
December,  1863,  and  took  his  seat  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  seventh.  He  had  served 
two  years  and  four  months  in  the  army,  and  had 
just  completed  his  thirtj^-second  year. 

The  Thirty-eighth  Congress  is  preeminently 
entitled  in  history  to  the  designation  of  the  War 
Congress.  It  was  elected  while  the  war  was 
flagrant,  and  every  member  was  chosen  upon  the 
issues  involved  in  the  continuance  of  the  struggle, 
The  Thirty-seventh  Congress  had,  indeed,  legis 
lated  to  a  large  extent  on  war  measures,  but  it  was 
chosen  before  any  one  believed  that  secession  oJ 
the  States  would  be  actually  attempted.  The* 
magnitude  of  the  work  which  fell  upon  its  sue- 


JAMES  A.   GARFIELD.  557 

cessor  was  unprecedented,  both  in  respect  to  the 
vast  sums  of  money  raised  for  the  support  of  the 
army  and  navy,  and  of  the  new  and  extraordinary 
powers  of  legislation  which  it  was  forced  to  exer 
cise.  Only  twenty-four  States  were  represented, 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  members  were 
upon  its  roll.  Among  these  were  many  distin 
guished  party  leaders  on  both  sides,  veterans  in  the 
public  service,  with  established  reputations  for 
ability,  and  with  that  skill  which  comes  only  from 
parliamentary  experience.  Into  this  assemblage  of 
men  Garfield  entered  without  special  preparation, 
and  it  might  almost  be  said  unexpectedly.  The 
question  of  taking  command  of  a  division  of  troops 
under  General  Thomas  or  taking  his  seat  in  Con 
gress,  was  kept  open  till  the  last  moment,  so  late, 
indeed,  that  the  resignation  of  his  military  com 
mission  and  his  appearance  in  the  House  were 
almost  contemporaneous.  He  wore  the  uniform, 
of  a  major-general  of  the  United  States  army  on 
Saturday,  and  on  Monday  in  civilian's  dress  he 
answered  to  the  roll-call  as  a  Representative  in 
Congress  from  the  State  of  Ohio. 

He  was  especially  fortunate  in  the  constituency 
which  elected  him.  Descended  almost  entirely 
from  New  England  stock,  the  men  of  the  Ashtabula 
district  were  intensely  radical  on  all  questions 
relating  to  human  rights.  Well-educated,  thrifty, 
thoroughly  intelligent  in  affairs,  acutely  discerning 


558  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

of  character,  not  quick  to  bestow  confidence,  and 
slow  to  withdraw  it,  they  were  at  once  the  most 
helpful  and  most  exacting  of  supporters.  Their 
tenacious  trust  in  men  in  whom  they  have  once 
confided,  is  illustrated  by  the  unparalleled  fact 
that  Elisha  Wliittlesey,  Joshua  R.  Giddings  and 
James  A.  Garfield  represented  the  district  for  fifty- 
four  years. 

There  is  no  test  of  a  man's  ability  in  any  depart 
ment  of  public  life  more  severe  than  service  in  the 
House  of  Representatives;  there  is  no  place  where 
so  little  deference  is  paid  to  reputation  previously 
acquired,  or  to  eminence  won  outside ;  no  place 
where  so  little  consideration  is  shown  for  the  feel 
ings  or  the  failures  of  beginners.  What  a  man 
gains  in  the  House,  he  gains  by  sheer  force  of  his 
own  character,  and  if  he  loses  and  falls  back  he 
must  expect  no  mercy,  and  will  receive  no  sym 
pathy.  It  is  a  field  in  which  the  survival  of  the 
strongest  is  the  recognized  rule,  and  where  no 
pretense  can  deceive  and  no  glamour  can  mislead. 
The  real  man  is  discovered,  his  worth  is  impar 
tially  weighed,  his  rank  is  irreversibly  decreed. 

With  possibly  a  single  exception,  Garfield  was 
the  youngest  member  in  the  House  when  he 
entered,  and  was  but  seven  years  from  his  college 
graduation.  But  he  had  not  been  in  his  seat  sixty 
days  before  his  ability  was  recognized  and  his 
place  conceded.  He  stepped  to  the  front  with  the 


JAMES   A.   GABFIELD.  559 

confidence  of  one  who  belonged  there.  The  House 
was  crowded  with  strong  men  of  both  parties; 
nineteen  of  them  have  since  been  transferred  to 
the  Senate,  and  many  of  them  have  served  with 
distinction  in  the  gubernatorial  chairs  of  their 
respective  States,  and  on  foreign  missions  of  great 
consequence ;  but  among  them  all  none  grew  so 
rapidly,  none  so  firmly  as  Garfield.  As  is  said  by 
Trevelyan  of  his  parliamentary  hero,  Garfield  suc 
ceeded  "because  all  the  world  in  concert  could 
not  have  kept  him  in  the  background,  and  because 
when  once  in  the  front  he  played  his  part  with  a 
prompt  intrepidity  and  a  commanding  ease  that 
were  but  the  outward  symptoms  of  the  immense 
reserves  of  energy,  on  which  it  was  his  power  to 
draw."  Indeed  the  apparently  reserved  force 
which  Garfield  possessed,  was  one  of  his  great 
characteristics.  He  never  did  so  well  but  that  it 
seemed  he  could  easily  have  done  better.  He 
never  expended  so  much  strength  but  that  he 
seemed  to  be  holding  additional  power  to  call. 
This  is  one  of  the  happiest  and  rarest  distinctions 
of  an  effective  debater,  and  often  counts  for  as 
much  in  persuading  an  assembly  as  the  eloquent 
and  elaborate  argument. 

The  great  measure  of  Garfield's  fame  was  filled 
by  his  service  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 
His  military  life,  illustrated  by  honorable  per 
formance,  and  rich  in  promise,  was,  as  he  himself 


560  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

felt,  prematurely  terminated,  and  necessarily 
incomplete.  Speculation  as  to  what  he  might 
have  done  in  a  field  where  the  great  prizes  are  so 
few,  cannot  be  profitable.  It  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  as  a  soldier  he  did  his  duty  bravely ;  he  did  it 
intelligently  ;  he  won  an  enviable  fame,  and  he 
retired  from  the  service  without  blot  or  breath 
against  him.  As  a  lawyer,  though  admirably 
equipped  for  the  profession,  he  can  scarcely  be 
said  to  have  entered  on  its  practice.  The  few 
efforts  he  made  at  the  bar  were  distinguished  by 
the  same  high  order  of  talent  which  he  exhibited 
on  every  field  where  he  was  put  to  the  test,  and  if 
a  man  may  be  accepted  as  a  competent  judge  of 
his  own  capacity  and  adaptations,  the  law  was  the 
profession  to  which  Garfield  should  have  devoted 
himself.  But  fate  ordained  otherwise,  and  his  rep 
utation  in  history  will  rest  largely  upon  his  service 
in  the  House  of  Representatives.  That  service 
was  exceptionally  long.  He  was  nine  times  con 
secutively  chosen  to  the  House,  an  honor  enjoyed 
by  not  more  than  six  other  Representatives  of  the 
more  than  five  thousand  who  have  been  elected 
from  the  organization  of  the  government  until 
this  hour. 

As  a  parliamentary  orator,  as  a  debater  on  an 
issue  squarely  joined,  where  the  position  had  been 
chosen  and  the  ground  laid  out,  Garfield  must  be 
assigned  a  very  high  rank.  More,  perhaps,  than 


JAMES   A.   GABFIELD.  561 

any  man  with  whom  he  was  associated  in  public 
life,  he  gave  careful  and  systematic  study  to  public 
questions,  and  he  came  to  every  discussion  in 
which  he  took  part,  with  elaborate  and  complete 
preparation.  He  was  a  steady  and  indefatigable 
worker.  Those  who  imagine  that  talent  or  genius 
can  supply  the  place  or  achieve  the  results  of  labor, 
can  find  no  encouragement  in  Garfield's  life.  In 
preliminary  work  he  was  apt,  rapid,  and  skillful. 
He  possessed  in  a  high  degree  the  power  of  readily 
absorbing  ideas  and  facts,  and,  like  Dr.  Johnson, 
had  the  art  of  getting  from  a  book  all  that  was  of 
value  in  it,  by  a  reading  apparently  so  quick  and 
cursory  that  it  seemed  like  a  mere  glance  at  the 
table  of  contents.  He  was  a  preeminently  fair 
and  candid  man  in  debate,  took  no  petty  advan 
tages,  stooped  to  no  unworthy  methods,  avoided 
personal  allusions,  rarely  appealed  to  prejudice, 
did  not  seek  to  inflame  passion.  He  had  a  quicker 
eye  for  the  strong  point  of  his  adversary  than  for 
his  weak  point,  and  on  his  own  side  he  so  mar 
shaled  his  weighty  arguments  as  to  make  his 
hearers  forget  any  possible  lack  in  the  complete 
strength  of  his  position.  He  had  a  habit  of  stating 
his  opponent's  side  with  such  amplitude  of  fair 
ness  and  such  liberality  of  concession  that  his 
followers  often  complained  that  he  was  giving  his 
case  away.  But  never  in  his  prolonged  participa 
tion  in  the  proceedings  of  the  House  did  he  give 


562  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

his  case  away  or  fail,  in  the  judgment  of  compe 
tent  and  impartial  listeners,  to  gain  the  mastery. 
These  characteristics,  which  marked  Garfield  as 
a  great  debater,  did  not,  however,  make  him 
a  great  parliamentary  leader.  A  parliamentary 
leader,  as  that  term  is  understood  wherever  free 
representative  government  exists,  is  necessarily 
and  very  strictly  the  organ  of  his  party.  An  ardent 
American  defined  the  instinctive  warmth  of  patri 
otism  when  he  offered  the  toast,  "  Our  country, 
always  right,  but  right  or  wrong,  our  country." 
The  parliamentary  leader  who  has  a  body  of 
followers  that  will  do  and  dare  and  die  for  the 
cause,  is  one  who  believes  his  party  always  right, 
but  right  or  wrong,  is  for  his  party.  No  more 
important  or  exacting  duty  devolves  upon  him 
than  the  selection  of  the  field  and  the  time 
for  contest.  He  must  know  not  merely  how  to 
strike,  but  where  to  strike  and  when  to  strike.  He 
often  skillfully  avoids  the  strength  of  his  oppo 
nent's  position  and  scatters  confusion  in  his  ranks 
by  attacking  an  exposed  point  when  really  the 
righteousness  of  the  cause  and  the  strength  of 
logical  intrenchment  are  against  him.  He  con 
quers  often  both  against  the  right  and  the  heavy 
battalions ;  as  when  young  Charles  Fox,  in  the 
days  of  his  toryism,  carried  the  House  of  Com 
mons  against  justice,  against  its  immemorial  rights, 
against  his  own  convictions,  if,  indeed,  at  that 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  563 

period  Fox  had  convictions,  and,  in  the  interest  of 
a  corrupt  administration,  in  obedience  to  a  tyran 
nical  sovereign,  drove  Wilkes  from  the  seat  to 
which  the  electors  of  Middlesex  had  chosen  him, 
and  installed  Luttrell,  in  defiance,  not  merely  of 
law  but  of  public  decency.  For  an  achievement 
of  that  kind  Garfield  was  disqualified — dis 
qualified  by  the  texture  of  his  mind,  by  the 
honesty  of  his  heart,  by  his  conscience,  and  by 
every  instinct  and  aspiration  of  his  nature. 

The  three  most  distinguished  parliamentary 
leaders  hitherto  developed  in  this  country  are  Mr. 
Clay,  Mr.  Douglass,  and  Mr.  Thaddeus  Stevens. 
Each  was  a  man  of  consummate  ability,  of  great 
earnestness,  of  intense  personality,  differing 
widely,  each  from  the  others,  and  yet  with  a 
signal  trait  in  common  —  the  power  to  command. 
In  the  give  and  take  of  daily  discussion,  in  the  art 
of  controling  and  consolidating  reluctant  and 
refractory  followers ;  in  the  skill  to  overcome  all 
forms  of  opposition,  and  to  meet  with  competency 
and  courage  the  varying  phases  of  unlooked-for 
assault  or  unsuspected  defection,  it  would  be 
difficult  to  rank  with  these  a  fourth  name  in  all  our 
Congressional  history.  But  of  those  Mr.  Clay  was 
the  greatest.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  impossible  to 
find  in  the  parliamentary  annals  of  the  world  a 
parallel  to  Mr.  Clay,  in  1841,  when,  at  sixty-four 
years  of  age,  he  took  the  control  of  the  Whig 


564  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

party  from  the   President  who  had  received  their 
suffrages,  against   the   power   of   Webster   in  the 
Cabinet,  against  the  eloquence  of  Choate  in   the 
Senate,  against   the    Herculean    efforts    of   Caleb 
Gushing  and  Henry  A.  Wise  in  the  House.     In 
unshared   leadership,  in  the  pride  and  plentitude 
of    power,    he   hurled    against    John   Tyler  with 
deepest  scorn  the  mass  of  that  conquering  column 
which  had  swept  over  the  land  in  1840,  and  drove 
his  administration  to  seek  shelter  behind  the  lines 
of  his  political  foes.     Mr.  Douglas  achieved  a  vic 
tory  scarcely  less  wonderful,  when,  in  1854,  against 
the  secret  desires  of  a  strong  administration,  against 
the  wise  counsel  of  the  older  chiefs,  against  the 
conservative  instincts    and  even    the  moral  sense 
of   the   country,  he   forced    a  reluctant  Congress 
into  a  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise.     Mr. 
Thaddeus    Stevens    in     his    contests    from    1865 
to    1868,   actually    advanced    his   parliamentary 
leadership  into  Congress,  tied    the  hands   of  the 
President,  and  governed  the  country  by  its  own 
will,  leaving  only  perfunctory  duties  to    be   dis 
charged  by   the   Executive.     With  two   hundred 
millions  of  patronage  in  his  hands  at  the  opening 
of  the  contest,  aided  by  the  active  force  of  Seward 
in  the  Cabinet  and  the  moral  power  of  Chase  on 
the  Bench,  Andrew  Johnson  could  not  command  the 
support  of  one-third  in  either  House  against  the  par 
liamentary  uprising  of  which  Thaddeus  Stevens  was 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  565 

the  animating  spirit  and  the  unquestioned  leader. 

From  these  three  great  men  Garfield  differed 
radically ;  differed  in  the  quality  of  his  mind,  in 
temperament,  in  the  form  and  phase  of  ambition. 
He  could  not  do  what  they  did,  but  he  could  do 
what  they  could  not,  and  in  the  breadth  of  his 
Congressional  work  he  left  that  which  will  longer 
exert  a  potential  influence  among  men,  and 
which,  measured  by  the  severe  test  of  posthumous 
criticism,  will  secure  a  more  enduring  and  more 
enviable  fame. 

Those  unfamiliar  with  Garfield's  industry,  and 
ignorant  of  the  details  of  his  work,  may,  in  some 
degree,  measure  them  by  the  annals  of  Congress. 
No  one  of  the  generation  of  public  men  to  which 
he  belonged  has  contributed  so  much  that  will  be 
valuable  for  future  reference.  His  speeches  are 
numerous,  many  of  them  brilliant,  all  of  them 
well  studied,  carefully  phrased,  and  exhaustive  of 
the  subject  under  consideration.  Collected  from 
the  scattered  pages  of  ninety  royal  octavo  volumes 
of  Congressional  Record,  they  would  present  an 
invaluable  compendium  of  the  political  history  of 
the  most  important  era  through  which  the  national 
government  has  ever  passed.  When  the  history 
of  this  period  shall  be  impartially  written,  when 
war  legislation,  measures  of  reconstruction,  pro 
tection  of  human  rights,  amendments  to  the  Con 
stitution,  maintenance  of  public  credit,  steps 


566          LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SEKVICES  OF 

toward  specie  resumption,  true  theories  of  revenue 
may  be  reviewed,  unsuiTounded  by  prejudice  and 
disconnected  from  partisanism,  the  speeches  of 
Garfleld  will  be  estimated  at  their  true  value,  and 
will  be  found  to  comprise  a  vast  magazine  of  fact 
and  argument,  of  clear  analysis  and  sound  conclu 
sion.  Indeed,  if  no  other  authority  were  acces 
sible,  his  speeches  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
from  December,  1863,  to  June,  1880,  would  give 
a  well-connected  history  and  complete  defence  of 
the  important  legislation  of  the  seventeen  eventful 
years  that  constitute  his  parliamentary  life.  Far 
beyond  that,  his  speeches  would  be  found  to  forecast 
many  great  measures  yet  to  be  completed  — meas 
ures  which  he  knew  were  beyond  the  public  opin 
ion  of  the  hour,  but  which  he  confidently  believed 
would  secure  popular  approval  within  the  period 
of  his  own  lifetime,  and  by  the  aid  of  his  own  efforts. 
Differing,  as  Garfield  does,  from  the  brilliant 
parliamentary  leaders,  it  is  not  easy  to  find  his 
counterpart  anywhere  in  the  record  of  American 
public  life.  He,  perhaps,  more  nearly  resembles 
Mr.  Seward  in  his  supreme  faith  in  the  all-con 
quering  power  of  a  principle.  He  had  the  love 
of  learning,  and  the  patient  industry  of  investiga 
tion  to  which  John  Quincy  Adams  owes  his  prom 
inence  and  his  Presidency.  He  had  some  of  those 
ponderous  elements  of  mind  which  distinguished 
Mr.  Webster,  and  which,  indeed,  in  all  our  public 


JAMES   A.   GABFIELD.  567 

life,  have  left  the  great  Massachusetts  senator 
without  au  intellectual  peer. 

In  English  parliamentary  history,  as  in  our  own, 
the  leaders  in  the  House  of  Commons  present 
points  of  essential  difference  from  Garfield.  But 
some  of  his  methods  recall  the  best  features  in  the 
strong,  independent  course  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  and 
striking  resemblances  are  discernible  in  that  most 
promising  of  modern  conservatives,  who  died  two 
early  for  his  country  and  his  fame,  the  Lord  George 
Bentick.  He  had  all  of  Burke's  love  for  the 
sublime  and  the  beautiful,  with,  possibly,  some 
thing  of  his  superabundance  ;  and  in  his  faith  and 
his  magnanimity,  in  his  power  of  statement,  in  his 
subtle  analysis,  in  his  faultless  logic,  in  his  love  of 
literature,  in  his  wealth  and  world  of  illustration, 
one  is  reminded  of  that  great  English  statesman  of 
to-day,  who,  confronted  with  obstacles  that  would 
daunt  any  but  the  dauntless,  reviled  by  those 
whom  he  would  relieve  as  bitterly  as  by  those 
whose  supposed  rights  he  is  forced  to  invade,  still 
labors  with  serene  courage  for  the  amelioration  of 
Ireland,  and  for  the  honor  of  the  English  name. 

Garfield's  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  while 
not  predicted  or  anticipated,  was  not  a  surprise  to 
the  country.  His  prominence  in  Congress,  his 
solid  qualities,  his  wide  reputation,  strengthened 
by  his  then  recent  election  as  Senator  from  Ohio, 
kept  him  in  the  public  eye  as  a  man  occupying  the 


568  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

very  highest  rank  among  those  entitled  to  be 
called  statesmen.  It  was  not  mere  chance  that 
brought  him  this  high  honor.  "  We  must,"  says 
Mr.  Emerson,  "reckon  success  a  constitutional 
trait.  If  Eric  is  in  robust  health  and  has  slept 
well  and  is  at  the  top  of  his  condition,  and  thirty 
years  old  at  his  departure  from  Greenland,  he  will 
steer  west,  and  his  ships  will  reach  Newfoundland. 
But  take  Eric  out  and  put  in  a  stronger  and 
bolder  man,  and  the  ships  will  sail  six  hundred, 
one  thousand,  fifteen  hundred  miles  farther,  and 
reach  Labrador  and  New  England.  There  is  no 
chance  in  results." 

As  a  candidate,  Garfield  steadity  grew  in  popu 
lar  favor.  He  was  met  with  a  storm  of  detraction 
at  the  very  hour  of  his  nomination,  and  it  con 
tinued,  with  increasing  volume  and  momentum, 
until  the  close  of  his  victorious  campaign : 

"  No  might  nor  greatness  in  mortality 
Can  censure  'scape;  backwounding  calumny 
The  whitest  virtue  strikes.     What  King  so  strong 
Can  tie  the  gall  up  in  the  slanderous  tongue." 

Under  it  all  he  was  calm  and  strong,  and  confi 
dent  ;  never  lost  his  self-possession,  did  no  unwise 
act,  spoke  no  hasty  or  ill-considered  word. 
Indeed,  nothing  in  his  whole  life  is  more  remark 
able  or  more  creditable  than  his  bearing  through 
those  five  full  months  of  vituperation  —  a  pro- 


JAMES   A.    GAEFIELD.  569 

longed  agony  of  trial  to  a  sensitive  man,  a  constant 
and  cruel  draught  upon  the  powers  of  moral 
endurance.  The  great  mass  of  these  unjust  impu 
tations  passed  unnoticed,  and  with  the  general 
debris  of  the  campaign  fell  into  oblivion.  But,  in 
a  few  instances,  the  iron  entered  his  soul,  and  he 
died  with  the  injury  unforgotten,  if  not  unforgiven. 
One  aspect  of  Garfield's  candidacy  was  unprece 
dented.  Never  before  in  the  history  of  partisan 
contests  in  this  country  had  a  successful  presiden 
tial  candidate  spoken  freely  on  passing  events  and 
current  issues.  To  attempt  anything  of  the  kind 
seemed  novel,  rash,  and  even  desperate.  The 
older  class  of  voters  recalled  the  unfortunate 
Alabama  letter,  in  which  Mr.  Clay  was  supposed 
to  have  signed  his  political  death  warrant.  They 
remembered,  also,  the  hot-tempered  effusion  by 
which  General  Scott  lost  a  large  share  of  his  popu 
larity  before  his  nomination,  and  the  unfortunate 
speeches  which  rapidly  consumed  the  remainder. 
The  younger  voters  had  seen  Mr.  Greeley,  in  a 
series  of  vigorous  and  original  addresses,  preparing 
the  pathway  for  his  own  defeat.  Unmindful  of 
these  warnings,  unheeding  the  advice  of  friends, 
Garfield  spoke  to  large  crowds  as  he  journeyed  to 
and  from  New  York  in  August,  to  a  great  multi 
tude  in  that  city,  to  delegations  and  deputations  of 
every  kind  that  called  at  Mentor  during  the 
summer  and  autumn.  With  innumerable  critics, 


570  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

watchful  and  eager  to  catch  a  phrase  that  might 
be  turned  into  odium  or  ridicule,  or  a  sentence 
that  might  be  distorted  to  his  own  or  his  party's 
injury,  Garfield  did  not  trip  or  halt  in  any  one  of 
his  seventy  speeches.  This  seems  all  the  more 
remarkable  when  it  is  remembered  that  he  did  not 
write  what  he  said,  and  yet  spoke  with  such  logi 
cal  consecutiveness  of  thought  and  such  admirable 
precision  of  phrase  as  to  defy  the  accident  of  mis- 
report  and  the  malignity  of  misrepresentation. 

In  the  beginning  of  his  presidential  life,  Gar- 
field's  experience  did  not  yield  him  pleasure  or  sat 
isfaction.  The  duties  that  engross  so  large  a  por 
tion  of  the  President's  time  were  distasteful  to 
him,  and  were  unfavorably  contrasted  with  his 
legislative  work.  "  I  have  been  dealing  all  these 
years  with  ideas,"  he  impatiently  exclaimed  one 
day,  "  and  here  I  am  dealing  only  with  persons. 
I  have  been  heretofore  treating  of  the  fundamental 
principles  of  government,  and  here  I  am  consider 
ing  all  day  whether  A  or  B  shall  be  appointed  to 
this  or  that  office."  He  was  earnestly  seeking 
same  practical  way  of  correcting  the  evils  arising 
from  the  distribution  of  overgrown  and  unwieldy 
patronage  —  evils  always  appreciated  and  often 
discussed  by  him,  but  whose  magnitude  had  been 
more  deeply  impressed  upon  his  mind  since  his 
accession  to  the  Presidency.  Had  he  lived,  a 
comprehensive  improvement  in  the  mode  of  ap- 


JAMES  A.  GARFIELD.  571 

pointment  and  in  the  tenure  of  office,  would  have 
been  proposed  by  him,  and,  with  the  aid  of  Con 
gress,  no  doubt  perfected. 

But,  while  many  of  the  executive  duties  were 
not  grateful  to  him,  he  was  assiduous  and  con 
scientious  in  their  discharge.  From  the  very  out 
set  he  exhibited  administrative  talent  of  a  high 
order.  He  grasped  the  helm  of  office  with  the 
hand  of  a  master.  In  this  respect,  indeed,  he  con 
stantly  surprised  many  who  were  most  intimately 
associated  with  him  in  the  government,  and  espe 
cially  those  who  had  feared  that  he  might  be  lack 
ing  in  the  executive  faculty.  His  disposition  of 
business  was  orderly  and  rapid.  His  power  of 
analysis,  and  his  skill  in  classification,  enabled  him 
to  dispatch  a  vast  mass  of  detail  with  singular 
promptness  and  ease.  His  cabinet  meetings  were 
admirably  conducted.  His  clear  presentation  of 
official  subjects,  his  well-considered  suggestion  of 
topics  on  which  discussion  was  invited,  his  quick 
decision  when  all  had  been  heard,  combined  to 
show  a  thoroughness  of  mental  training,  as  rare  as 
his  natural  ability  and  his  facile  adaptation  to  a 
new  and  enlarged  field  of  labor. 

With  perfect  comprehension  of  all  the  inheri 
tances  of  the  war,  with  a  cool  calculation  of  the 
obstacles  in  his  way,  impelled  always  by  a  gener 
ous  enthusiasm,  Garfield  conceived  that  much 
might  be  done  by  his  administration  toward 


572  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

restoring  harmony  between  the  different  sections 
of  the  Union.  He  was  anxious  to  go  South  and 
speak  to  the  people.  As  early  as  April  he  had 
ineffectually  endeavored  to  arrange  for  a  trip  to 
Nashville,  whither  he  had  been  cordially  invited, 
and  he  was  again  disappointed  a  few  weeks  later 
to  find  that  he  could  not  go  to  South  Carolina  to 
attend  the  centennial  celebration  of  the  victory  of 
the  Cowpens. 

But  for  the  autumn  he  definitely  counted  on 
being  present  at  three  memorable  assemblies  in 
the  South  —  the  celebration  at  Yorktown,  the 
opening  of  the  Cotton  Exposition  at  Atlanta,  and 
the  meeting  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  at 
Chattanooga.  He  was  already  turning  over  in  his 
mind  his  address  for  each  occasion,  and  the  three 
taken  together,  he  said  to  a  friend,  gave  him  the 
exact  scope  and  verge  which  he  needed.  At 
Yorktown  he  would  have  before  him  the  associa 
tions  of  a  hundred  years  that  bound  the  South 
and  the  North  in  the  sacred  memory  of  a  common 
danger  and  a  common  victory.  At  Atlanta  he 
would  present  the  material  interests  and  the  in 
dustrial  development  which  appealed  to  the  thrift 
and  independence  of  every  household,  and  which 
should  unite  tho  two  sections  by  the  instinct  of 
self-interest  and  self-defence.  At  Chattanooga  he 
would  revive  memories  of  the  war  only  to  show 
that,  after  all  its  disaster  and  all  its  suffering,  the 


JAMES   A.   GAKFIELD.  573 

country  was  stronger  and  greater,  the  Union  ren 
dered  indissoluble,  and  the  future,  through  the 
agony  and  blood  of  one  generation,  made  brighter 
and  better  for  all. 

Garfield's  ambition  for  the  success  of  his  admin 
istration  was  high.  With  strong  caution  and 
conservatism  in  his  nature,  he  was  in  no  danger  of 
attempting  rash  experiments,  or  of  resorting  to 
the  empiricism  of  statesmanship.  But  he  believed 
that  renewed  and  closer  attention  should  be  given 
to  questions  affecting  the  material  interests  and 
commercial  prospects  of  fifty  millions  of  people. 
He  believed  that  our  continental  relations,  exten 
sive  and  undeveloped  as  they  are,  involved  respon 
sibility,  and  could  be  cultivated  into  profitable 
friendship  or  be  abandoned  to  harmful  indifference 
or  lasting  enmity.  He  believed,  with  equal  con 
fidence,  that  an  essential  forerunner  to  a  new  era 
of  national  progress  must  be  a  feeling  of  content 
ment  in  every  section  of  the  Union,  and  a  gen 
erous  belief  that  the  benefits  and  burdens  of 
government  would  be  common  to  all.  Himself  a 
conspicuous  illustration  of  what  ability  and  ambi 
tion  may  do  under  Republican  institutions,  he 
loved  his  country  with  a  passion  of  patriotic  devo 
tion,  and  every  waking  thought  was  given  to  her 
advancement.  He  was  an  American  in  all  his 
aspirations,  and  he  looked  to  the  destiny  and  in 
fluence  of  the  United  States  with  the  philosophic 


574  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES  OF 

composure   of    Jefferson    and   the    demonstrative 
confidence  of  John  Adams. 

The  political  events  which  disturbed  the  Presi 
dent's  serenity,  for  many  weeks  before  that  fateful 
day  in  July,  form  an  important  chapter  in  his 
career,  and,  in  his  own  judgment,  involved  ques 
tions  of  principle  and  of  right  which  are  vitally 
essential  to  the  constitutional  administration  of 
the  federal  government.  It  would  be  out  of  place 
here  and  now  to  speak  the  language  of  contro 
versy  ;  but  the  events  referred  to,  however  they 
may  continue  to  be  a  source  of  contention  with 
others,  have  become,  so  far  as  Garfield  is  con 
cerned,  as  much  a  matter  of  history  as  his  heroism 
at  Chickamauga,  or  his  illustrious  service  in  the 
House.  Detail  is  not  needful,  and  personal  an 
tagonism  shall  not  be  rekindled  by  any  word 
uttered  to-day.  The  motives  of  those  opposing 
him  are  not  to  be  here  adversely  interpreted  nor 
their  course  harshly  characterized.  But  of  the 
dead  President  this  is  to  be  said,  and  said  because 
his  own  speech  is  forever  silenced  and  he  can  be 
no  more  heard  except  through  the  fidelity  and  the 
love  of  surviving  friends.  From  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  controversy  he  so  much  deplored, 
the  President  was  never  for  one  moment  actuated 
by  any  motive  of  gain  to  himself  or  of  loss  to 
others.  Least  of  all  men  did  he  harbor  revenge  ; 
rarely  did  he  even  show  resentment,  and  malice 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  5T5 

was  not  in  his  nature.  He  was  congenially  em 
ployed  only  in  the  exchange  of  good  offices  and  the 
doing  of  kindly  deeds. 

There  was  not  an  hour,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
trouble  till  the  fatal  shot  entered  his  body,  when 
the  President  would  not  gladly,  for  the  sake  of 
restoring  harmony,  have  retraced  any  step  he  had 
taken,  if  such  retracing  had  merely  involved  con 
sequences  personal  to  himself. 

The  pride  of  consistency,  or  any  supposed  sense 
of  humiliation  that  might  result  from  surrender 
ing  his  position,  had  not  a  feather's  weight  with 
him.  No  man  was  ever  less  subject  to  such 
influences  from  within  or  from  without.  But, 
after  most  anxious  deliberation,  and  the  coolest 
survey  of  all  the  circumstances,  he  solemnly 
believed  that  the  true  prerogatives  of  the  execu 
tive  were  involved  in  the  issue  which  had  been 
raised,  and  that  he  would  be  unfaithful  to  his 
supreme  obligation  if  he  failed  to  maintain,  in 
all  their  vigor,  the  constitutional  rights  and  digni 
ties  of  his  great  office.  He  believed  this  in  all 
the  convictions  of  conscience,  when  in  sound  and 
vigorous  health,  and  he  believed  it  in  his  suffering 
and  prostration  in  the  last  conscious  thought  which 
his  wearied  mind  bestowed  on  the  transitory  strug 
gles  of  life. 

More  than  this  need  not  be  said.  Less  than 
this  could  not  be  said.  Justice  to  the  dead,  the 


576  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SERVICES   OP 

highest  obligation  that  devolves  upon  the  living, 
demands  the  declaration  that,  in  all  the  bearings 
of  the  subject,  actual  or  possible,  the  President 
was  content  in  his  mind,  justified  in  his  conscience, 
immovable  in  his  conclusions. 

The  religious  element  in  Garfield's  character 
was  deep  and  earnest.  In  his  early  youth  he 
espoused  the  faith  of  the  Disciples,  a  sect  of  that 
great  Baptist  communion,  which,  in  different 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  is  so  numerous  and 
so  influential  throughout  all  parts  of  the  United 
States.  But  the  broadening  tendency  of  his  mind 
and  his  active  spirit  of  inquiry  were  early  apparent, 
and  carried  him  beyond  the  dogmas  of  sect  and 
the  restraint  of  association.  In  selecting  a  college 
in  which  to  continue  his  education,  he  rejected 
Bethany,  though  presided  over  by  Alexander 
Campbell,  the  great  preacher  of  his  church.  His 
reasons  were  characteristic;  first,  that  Bethany 
leaned  too  heavily  toward  slavery ;  and,  second, 
that  being  himself  a  Disciple  and  the  son  of 
Disciple  parents,  he  had  little  acquaintance  with 
people  of  other  beliefs,  and  he  thought  it  would 
make  him  more  liberal,  quoting  his  own  words, 
both  in  his  religious  and  general  views,  to  go  into 
a  new  circle  and  be  under  new  influences. 

The  liberal  tendency  which  he  anticipated,  as 
the  result  of  wider  culture,  was  fully  realized. 
He  was  emancipated  from  mere  sectarian  belief, 


JAMES  A.   GAEFIELD.  577 

and  with  eager  interest  pushed  his  investigations 
in  the  direction  of  modern  progressive  thought. 
He  followed  with  quickening  step  in  the  paths 
of  exploration  and  speculation  so  fearlessly 
trodden  by  Darwin,  by  Huxley,  by  Tyndall, 
and  by  other  living  scientists  of  the  radical  and 
advanced  type.  His  own  church  binding  its 
disciples  by  no  formulated  creed,  but  accepting 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  word  of  God, 
with  unbiased  liberty  of  private  interpretation, 
favored,  if  it  did  not  stimulate,  the  spirit  of 
investigation.  Its  members  profess  with  sincerity, 
and  profess  only,  to  be  of  one  mind  and  one  faith 
with  those  who  immediately  followed  the  Master, 
and  who  were  first  called  Christians  at  Antioch. 

But  however  high  Garfield  reasoned  of  "fixed 
fate,  free  will,  foreknowledge  absolute,"  he  was 
never  separated  from  the  Church  of  the  Disciples 
in  his  affections  and  in  his  associations.  For  him 
it  held  the  ark  of  the  covenant.  To  him  it 
was  the  gate  of  heaven.  The  world  of  religious 
belief  is  full  of  solecisms  and  contradictions. 
A  philosophic  observer  declares  that  men  by  the 
thousand  will  die  in  defence  of  a  creed  whose 
doctrines  they  do  not  comprehend,  and  whose 
tenets  they  habitually  violate.  It  is  equally  true 
that  men  by  the  thousands  will  cling  to  church 
organizations  with  instinctive  and  undying  fidelity, 
when  their  belief  in  maturer  years  is  radically 


578  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES  OP 

different  from  that  which  inspired  them  as  neo 
phytes. 

But  after  this  range  of  speculation,  and  this 
latitude  of  doubt,  Garfield  came  back  always  with 
freshness  and  delight  to  the  simpler  instincts  of 
religious  faith,  which,  earliest  implanted,  longest 
survive.  Not  many  weeks  before  his  assassina 
tion,  walking  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  with 
a  friend,  and  conversing  on  those  topics  of 
personal  religion,  concerning  which  noble  natures 
have  an  unconquerable  reserve,  he  said  that  he 
found  the  Lord's  prayer  and  the  simple  petitions 
learned  in  infancy,  infinitely  restful  to  him,  not 
merely  in  their  stated  repetition,  but  in  their 
casual  and  frequent  recall  as  he  went  about  the 
daily  duties  of  life.  Certain  texts  of  scriptures 
had  a  very  strong  hold  on  his  memory  and  his 
heart.  He  heard,  while  in  Edinburgh  some  years 
ago,  an  eminent  Scotch  preacher,  who  prefaced 
his  sermon  with  reading  the  eighth  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  which  book  had  been 
the  subject  of  careful  study  with  Garfield  during 
all  his  religious  life.  He  was  greatly  impressed  by 
the  elocution  of  the  preacher,  andg  declared  that  it 
had  imparted  a  new  and  deeper  meaning  to  the 
majestic  utterances  of  St.  Paul.  He  referred 
often  in  after  years  to  that  memorable  service, 
and  dwelt  with  exaltation  of  feeling  upon  the 
radiant  promise  and  the  assured  hope  with  which 


JAMES  A.   GAKFIELD.  579 

the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  "  persuaded 
that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  princi 
palities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things 
to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love 
of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 

The  crowning  characteristic  of  General  Gar- 
field's  religious  opinions,  as,  indeed,  of  all  his  opin 
ions,  was  his  liberality.  In  all  things  he  had  char 
ity.  Tolerance  was  of  his  nature.  He  respected 
in  others  the  qualities  which  he  possessed  himself 
—  sincerity  of  conviction  and  frankness  of  expres 
sion.  With  him  the  inquiry  was  not  so  much 
what  a  man  believes,  but  does  he  believe  it?  The 
lines  of  his  friendship  and  his  confidence  encircled 
men  of  every  creed,  and  men  of  no  creed,  and  to 
the  end  of  his  life,  on  his  ever-lengthening  list  of 
friends,  were  to  be  found  the  names  of  a  pious 
Catholic  priest  and  of  an  honest-minded  and  gen 
erous  hearted  Free-Thinker. 

On  the  morning  of  Saturday,  July  2,  the  Presi 
dent  was  a  contented  and  happy  man  —  not  in  an 
ordinary  degree,  but  joyfully,  almost  boyishly, 
happy.  On  his  way  to  the  railroad  station,  to 
which  he  drove  slowly,  in  conscious  enjoyment  of 
the  beautiful  morning,  with  an  unwonted  sense  of 
leisure  and  a  keen  anticipation  of  pleasure,  his 
talk  was  all  in  a  grateful  and  gratulatory  vein. 
He  felt  that  after  four  months  of  trial  his  ad  minis- 


580  LIFE   AND   PUBLIC    SERVICES   OF 

tration  was  strong  in  its  grasp  of  affairs,  strong  in 
popular  favor  and  destined  to  grow  stronger ;  that 
grave  difficulties  confronting  him  at  his  inaugura 
tion  had  been  safely  passed ;  that  trouble  lay 
behind  him  and  not  before  him  ;  that  he  was  soon 
to  meet  the  wife  whom  he  loved,  now  recovering 
from  an  illness  which  had  but  lately  disquieted 
and  at  times  almost  unnerved  him ;  that  he  was 
going  to  his  Alma  Mater  to  renew  the  most  cher 
ished  associations  of  his  young  manhood,  and  to 
exchange  greetings  with  those  whose  deepening 
interest  had  followed  every  step  of  his  upward 
progress  from  the  day  he  entered  upon  his  college 
course  until  he  had  attained  the  loftiest  elevation 
in  the  gift  of  his  countrymen. 

Surely  if  happiness  can  ever  come  from  the 
honors  or  triumphs  of  this  world,  on  that  quiet 
July  morning,  James  A.  Garfield  may  well  have 
been  a  happy  man.  No  foreboding  of  evil 
haunted  him  ;  no  slightest  premonition  of  danger 
clouded  his  sky.  His  terrible  fate  was  upon  him 
in  an  instant.  One  moment  he  stood  erect,  strong, 
confident  in  the  years  stretching  peacefully  out 
before  him.  The  next  he  lay  wounded,  bleeding, 
helpless,  doomed  to  weary  weeks  of  torture,  to 
silence,  and  the  grave. 

Great  in  life,  he  was  surpassingly  great  in  death. 
For  no  cause,  in  the  very  frenzy  of  wantonness 


JAMES   A.   GAKFIELD.  581 

and  wickedness,  by  the  red  hand  of  murder,  he 
was  thrust  from  the  full  tide  of  this  world's  inter 
est,  from  its  hopes,  its  aspirations,  its  victories, 
into  the  visible  presence  of  death  —  and  he  did 
not  quail.  Not  alone  for  the  one  short  moment 
in  which,  stunned  and  dazed,  he  could  give  up 
life,  hardly  aware  of  its  relinquishment,  but 
through  days  of  deadly  languor,  through  weeks  of 
agony  that  were  not  less  agony  because  silently 
borne,  with  clear  sight  and  calm  courage,  he 
looked  into  his  open  grave.  What  blight  and 
ruin  met  his  anguished  eyes,  whose  lips  may  tell 
—  what  brilliant,  broken  plans,  what  baffled,  high 
ambitions,  what  sundering  of  strong,  warm,  man 
hood's  friendships,  what  bitter  rending  of  sweet 
household  ties !  Behind  him,  a  proud  expectant 
nation,  a  great  host  of  sustaining  friends,  a  cher 
ished  and  happy  mother,  wearing  the  full,  rich 
honors  of  her  early  toil  and  tears ;  the  wife  of  his 
youth,  whose  whole  life  lay  in  his;  the  little  boys 
not  yet  emerged  from  childhood's  day  of  frolic ; 
the  fair,  young  daughter;  the  sturdy  sons  ju^t 
springing  into  closest  companionship,  claiming 
every  day,  and  every  day  rewarding,  a  father's 
love  and  care ;  and  in  his  heart  the  eager,  rejoicing 
power  to  meet  all  demand.  Before  him,  desola 
tion  and  great  darkness!  and  his  soul  was  not 
shaken.  His  countrymen  were  thrilled  with 


582  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 

instant,  profound,  and  universal  sympathy. 
Masterful  in  his  moral  weakness,  he  became  the 
centre  of  a  nation's  love,  enshrined  in  the  prayers 
of  a  world.  But  all  the  love  and  all  the  sympathy 
could  not  share  with  him  his  suffering.  He  trod 
the  wine-press  alone.  With  unfaltering  front  he 
faced  death ;  with  unfailing  tenderness  he  took 
leave  of  life.  Above  the  demoniac  hiss  of  the 
assassin's  bullet  he  heard  the  voice  of  God.  With 
simple  resignation  he  bowed  to  the  divine  decree. 
As  the  end  drew  near  his  early  craving  for  the 
sea  returned.  The  stately  mansion  of  power  had 
been  to  him  the  wearisome  hospital  of  pain,  and 
he  begged  to  be  taken  from  its  prison  walls,  from 
its  oppressive,  stifling  air,  from  its  homelessness 
and  its  hopelessness.  Gently,  silently,  the  love  of 
a  great  people  bore  the  pale  sufferer  to  the  longed- 
for  healing  of  the  sea,  to  live  or  die,  as  God  should 
will,  within  sight  of  its  heaving  billows,  within 
sound  of  its  manifold  voices.  With  wan,  fevered 
face  tenderly  lifted  to  the  cooling  breeze,  he 
looked  out  wistfully  upon  the  ocean's  changing 
wonders  ;  on  its  far  sails,  whitening  in  the  morn 
ing  light ;  on  its  restless  waves,  rolling  shoreward, 
to  break  and  die  beneath  the  noonday  sun ;  on 
the  red  clouds  of  evening,  arching  low  to  the  hor 
izon  ;  on  the  serene  and  shining  pathway  of  the 
stars*  Let  us  think  that  his  dying  eyes  read  a 


JAMES  A.   GABFIELD.  583 

mystic  meaning,  which  only  the  rapt  and  parting 
soul  may  know.  Let  us  believe  that,  in  the 
silence  of  the  receding  world,  he  heard  the  great 
waves  breaking  on  a  further  shore,  and  felt  already 
upon  his  wasted  brow  the  breath  of  the  eternal 
morning. 


584  LIFE  AND   PUBLIC   SERVICES   OF 


IV. 

A  THRENODY  ON  GARFIELD. 

BY    MES.    ELLEN    KEY    BLUNT. 

How  beautiful  it  was  to  die  as  he  has  died, 

Taking  a  calm  around  him  by  the  force 

Of  his  great  soul,  commanding  peace  from  strife, 

And  changing  all  the  discord  into  rest,  — 

A  heavenly  music  heard  as  life  departs  ! 


How  wonderful  it  was  that  the  accursed  hate 
Which  smote  him  brought  forth  only  loyal  love  ; 
Like  to  some  holy  bell  that  being  struck 
Resounds  with  wondrous  sweetness,  sounding  on 
Through  all  the  spaces  to  eternity. 


How  noble  was  his  dauntless  fortitude 
Which,  as  he  lay  expiring,  day  by  day, 
Made  him  almost  control  his  destiny 
And  look  upon  his  torture  with  a  smile. 


JAMES   A.   GAKFIELD.  585 

As  his  life  wasted,  in  great  patience,  wonderingly 
His  watchers  watched  him.     They  were  not  alone 
Of  his  own  people,  but  his  watchers  were  the  world, 
From  far-off  shores  and  seas  with  pitiful 
Sad  yearnings  towards  him  as  his  star  went  down. 


Nine  times  ten  million  souls  in  his  own  tongue 
Prayed  to  the  Almighty  for  his  single  life ; 
But  he  had  risen  too  near  to  heaven  in  his  great  flight 
To  stoop  again  to  earth,  and  so  God  took  him, 
Like  a  star  folded  in  more  perfect  light. 


And  he  is  dead,  and  multitudes  have  come 
To  his  dead  presence,  and,  with  solemn  care, 
Moving  in  silence  to  the  measured  strain 
He  loved,  in  mournful  sweet  monotony 
Repeated  as  they  bore  him  step  by  step 
Through  harvest-fields  of  ripening  trodden  grain, 
They  laid  him  reverently,  gently  down 
Where  all  the  sheaves  of  earth  are  garnered  at  the 
last. 


Upon  his  pulseless  form  are  richly  piled 
Wreaths,  garlands,  of  the  late  yet  lavish  bloom 
Of  the  perfected  summer,  with  the  exquisite  thrill 
Of  life  so  fresh  upon  their  shining  leaves. 
Banners  are  furled  around  him,  and  the  flag 
We  love  droops  mourning  o'er  the  mourning  land. 


586  LIFE  AND  PUBLIC   SEE  VICES   OF 

And  from  afar  beyond  our  land  and  lakes, 

From  the  great  world  that  watched  him  wonderingly 

Come  kind  farewells  and  tender  sympathies. 

Pity  has  told  her  tale  in  every  tongue 

And  kings  have  claimed  him  comrade,  hand  in  hand. 


Fame  has  recorded  him, 

Love  has  rewarded  him, 

Mother,  wife,  children  and  people  wept  over  him. 

England  accounted  him 

Kindred  by  blood. 

All  that  are  great  and  good 

Have  as  his  mourners  stood 

While  he  lay,  day  by  day,  passing  away. 


A  Queen  sends  comforting  words  of  cheer, 

And  flowers  to  fade  on  his  bloody  bier. 

God  save  the  Queen  when  her  last  hour  is  near ! 


The  North  was  his  by  birth, 

The  South  is  his  by  death  ! 

He  conquered  by  suffering  grandly  borne 

Our  long-cherished  strifes ;  they  are  gone,  and  now 

Standing  together  we  look  on  his  pale  dead  face, 

To  whom  we  had  given,  the  elected,  a  power  more 

great 
Than  any  king's.    Together  we  revere 


JAMES   A.   GARFIELD.  587 

The  majesty  with  which  he  laid  it  down 

At  God's  command.     Together  we  shall  love 

His  memory,  and  each  other  for  his  sake, 

And  for  the  heart  so  high  that  it  "  could  hate  no  man." 

God  rest  him !     He  has  rested  him ! 
Nothing  can  "  hurt "  him  more, 
"  Nothing  can  touch  him  further." 

More  than  a  king  he  lies 

With  the  strong  blaze  of  the  world's  homage 

Full  on  his  closed  eyes. 


American,  born  in  the  forest, 

The  great  lake  for  him  sighs, 

And  England,  crowned  and  sceptered, 

Loves  him  as  he  dies. 


He  fought  in  the  deathly  valley 
From  morn  till  the  set  of  sun, 
Till  eighty  days  had  run. 
Then  he  folded  his  arms 
And  his  day  was  done. 

Oh,  the  bloom  is  off  of  the  prairie, 
The  butterfly's  change  is  begun, 
The  pine  cone  flowers  eternal, 
The  eagle  has  soared  to  the  sun  I 


Popular  Biographies. 

18  volumes,  i2mo,  cloth,  1.50. 

Take  these  four : 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES.     By  E.  E.  Brown. 
JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL.     By  E.  E.  Brown. 
HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW.      By  W.  S. 

Kennedy. 
JOHN  GREENLEAF  WHITTIER.    By  W.  S.  Kennedy. 

To  review  their  lives  and  work  and  catch 
the  spirit  of  both  in  300  or  400  pages  of 
easy  type  is  to  give  the  bones  of  biography ; 
which  is  all  nine  tenths  of  us  have  the  time 
to  read;  and  the  other  tenth  are  glad  of 
the  bones  before  they  come  to  the  more 
elaborate  whole. 

The  other  fourteen  : 
CHARLES  XII,  KING  OF  SWEDEN.      By  M.  de 

Voltaire. 

CHARLES  DICKENS.     By  P.  A.  Hanaford. 
BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.     By  Jeremiah  Chaplin. 
HORACE  GREELEY.     By  William  Cornell. 
JAMES  A.  GARFIELD.     By  E.  E.  Brown. 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.     By  E.  E.  Brown. 
AMOS  LAWRENCE.     By  William  R.  Lawrence. 
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.     By  P.  A.  Hanaford. 
DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.     By  John  S.  Roberto. 
LORD  NELSON.     By  Robert  Southey. 
ISRAEL  PUTNAM.     By  I.  N.  Tarbox. 
GEORGE  PEABODY.     By  P.  A.  Hanaford. 
CHARLES  SUMNER.     By  J.  and  J.  D.  Chaplin. 
BAYARD  TAYLOR.     By  Russel  H.  Conwell. 
DANIEL  WEBSTER.     By  Joseph  Banvard. 
HENRY  WILSON.     By  Elias  Nason. 


In  1833  the  wife  of  Horace  Mann  spent  th« 
winter  in  Cuba  under  circumstances  extremely 
favorable  to  an  intimate  knowledge  of  life  there ; 
but  was  under  a  double  restraint  from  making  a 
book,  a  close  and  sympathetic  friendship  and  nu 
merous  hospitalities. 

Nevertheless  the  book  was  written,  but  kept  for 
fifty  years  till  the  death  of  the  last  of  her  friends 
who  figured  in  it. 

Juanita,  a  Romance  of  Real  Life  in  Cuba  Fifty  Years  Ago. 
By  Mary  Mann  (wife  of  Horace  Mann,  sister  of  Mrs.  Haw 
thorne  and  of  the  venerable  Elizabeth  Peabody).  436  pages. 
12mo,  cloth,  $1.50. 

It  is  less  a  romance  than  a  fragment  of  history ; 
less  a  history  than  an  impassioned  picture  of  hu 
man  life  above  and  below  incredible  greed  and 
cruelty ;  less  a  picture  than  protest.  And,  coming 
at  this  late  day  when  freedom  has  blessed  both 
slave  and  master,  it  gives  a  new  zest  to  liberty. 
It  draws  the  reader  from  page  to  page  not  so 
much  by  the  arts  and  resources  of  fiction  as  by  an 
overmastering  sympathy. 

It  is  not  another  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin;  and  the 
times  are  kindlier.  But  the  book  must  be  read. 


A  writer  who  keeps  his  name  to  himself  had 
been  telling  his  children  what  heraldry  had  to  do 
with  our  stars  and  stripes,  with  the  seals  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  the  States  themselves.  "  It 
occurred  to  him  "  —  what  are  we  not  indebted  to 
children  for? — "that  heraldry,  brilliant  with  mem 
ories  of  tournaments  and  hard-won  victories, 
might  interest "  other  youngsters.  Hence  a  play 
ful  book  of  careful  enough  research  into  heraldic 
history,  legends,  usages,  meanings,  proprieties. 

Dame  Heraldiy  117  illustrations,  271  page*.  8vo,  cloth, 
$2.50. 


There  is  nothing  more  refreshing  to  pick  up  in 
odd  minutes  than  a  bright  collection  out  of  the 
poetry  of  all  time  of  the  brightest  on  almost  no 
matter  what  subject,  even  the  weather. 

Through  the  Year  with  the  Poets,  edited  by  Oscar  Fay 
Adains.  A  volume  a  month  of  about  140  pages  each,  with, 
ample  indices.  16mo,  cloth,  75  cents  each;  parti-colored  cloth* 
$1.00. 

And  dainty  book-making  has  much  to  do  with 
the  pleasure  of  scrappy  reading. 

New  Every  Morning,  a  year-book  for  girls,  by- 
Annie  H.  Ryder,  is  a  helpful  thought  or  two,  out  of 
current  writers  mainly,  for  every  day  in  the  year ; 
not  religious,  but  chosen  for  serious  aptitude  to 
the  state  of  things  in  the  world  we  live  in.  196 
pages.  Square  IGmo,  cloth.  $1.00. 

Notable  Prayers  of  Christian  History.  By  Hez- 
ekiah  Butterworth.  So  far  as  we  know,  there  is 
no  other  book  in  which  are  gathered  the  notable 
prayers  of  devout  men  of  3,11  times  with  their 
biographical  and  historical  connections.  304  pages. 
16mo,  cloth,  1.00. 

Let  not  the  bookseller  venture  a  word  on  so  ab 
struse  a  subject  as  Browning. 

Christmas  Eve  and  Easter  Day,  and  Other  Poems.  By 
Robert  Browning.  Introduction  by  W.  J.  Bolfe.  The  Theory 
of  Bobert  Browning  concerning  Personal  Immortality  by 
HeloiseEdwhiaHersey.  With  notes.  175  pages.  16mo,  cloth, 
75  cents. 

For  Browning  Classes  and  Clubs.  The  text  is 
in  very  generous  type. 


Faith  and  Action  is  an  F.  D.  Maurice  Anthology. 
Preface  by  Phillips  Brooks.  The  subjects  are: 
Life,  Men,  Reforms,  Books,  Art,  Duty,  Aspira 
tion,  Faith.  269  pages.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.00» 


Quite  a  new  sort  of  history.  School  days  over, 
four  girl  friends  return  to  their  homes  and  life 
begins.  As  often  happens,  life  is  not  as  they 
picture  it.  What  it  was  for  the  four  and  how 
they  met  it  you  shall  read  in  the  quiet  book. 

After  School  Days.  By  Christina  Goodwin.  196  pages. 
12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

It  is  a  comforting  fact  a  thousand  times  that 
nobody  knows,  to  be  sure  of  it,  what  is  good  for 
him  or  her.  Disappointments  are  often  shorn  of 
their  bitterness  by  the  remembrance  of  it.  Often 
what  we  look  forward  to,  hope  for,  strive  for, 
make  ourselves  anxious  about,  turns  out  to  be  of 
no  particular  value ;  and  what  we  fear  and  strive 
against  turns  out  good  fortune.  Rarely  is  this 
practical  wisdom  made  so  sure  as  in  this  whole 
some  history  out  of  the  stuff  that  dreams  arc 
made  of. 

A  practical  help  for  a  girl  to  surround  herself 
with  pleasant  things  without  much  shopping.  The 
book  is  mainly  filled  with  ways  to  exercise  taste 
on  waste  or  picked-up  things  for  use  with  an  eye 
to  decoration  as  well. 

For  a  Girl's  Room.  By  Some  Friends  of  the  Girls.  236 
pages.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

A  friendly  sort  of  a  book  to  fill  odd  minutes, 
whether  at  home  or  out,  for  herself  or  another. 
By  no  means  on  "  fancy-work"  —  not  all  work  — 
Chapter  XXI  is  How  to  Tame  Birds  and  XXV  is 
What  to  Do  in  Emergencies. 


When  a  novel-writer  makes  a  girl  so  uncon 
sciously  bright  and  catching  in  the  very  first  chap 
ter  he  must  not  complain  if  the  reader  mixes  her 
up  in  a  plot  of  his  own. 

Romance  of  a  Letter.  By  Lowell  Choate.  356  pages.  12mo, 
cloth,  $1.25. 

But  we  are  not  going  to  spoil  a  good  story  by 
getting  the  least  of  its  secrets  out. 


Whether  city  boys  go  to  the  country  or  country 
boys  go  to  the  city  wonderful  things  are  experi 
enced. 

Boys  of  Cary  Farm.  By  Minna  Caroline  Smith.  313  pages. 
12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

The  story  lies  between  Chicago  and  Iowa. 
The  boys  get  mixed  up  variously.  It  is  a  Sunday 
School  book  to  this  extent :  The  boys  are  good 
boys  and  the  girls  are  good  girls ;  the  seeing  and 
doing  are  all  well  meant  if  they  are  a  trifle  ad 
venturous  here  and  there. 


The  Spare   Minute  series  of  anthologies  Is  en 
riched  by  one  from  Ruskin. 

Thoughts  of  Beauty  from  John  Buskin.    By  Hose  Porter. 
286  pages.    12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

"  I  have  confined  myself  to  his  discoveries  on 
Nature,  Morals  and  Religion;  gathering  for  your 
perusal  revelations  of  the  blessed  wonders  of  sky 
and  cloud,  mountain  and  rock,  trees,  mosses,  and 
the  green  grass,  birds  of  the  air,  and  flowers,  and 
the  marvelous  coloring  all  these  display  which  in 
beauty  of  hue  and  delicacy  of  tinting  as  far  out- 
pass  the  works  of  man  as  the  heavens  are  higher 
than  the  earth."— From  The  Introduction. 


Dorothy  Thorn  is  a  first-class  American  novel. 

By  which  we  do  not  moan  to  declare  the  author 
a  Walter  Scott  on  his  second  book.  The  world 
may  take  its  time  and  rate  him  as  it  will;  but 
Dorothy  Thorn  we  are  sure  of. 

It  begins  as  life  begins,  wherever  we  pick  up 
the  threads  of  it,  human.  It  goes  on  the  same. 
The  tale  is  a  sketch  of  not-surprising  events. 
There  is  not  an  incident  told  in  the  book  that  does 
not  seem  tame  in  the  telling,  tame  with  the  unro- 
mantic  commonplace  of  life ;  and  yet  there  is  not 
a  spot  where  the  people  forget  their  parts  or  hesi 
tate  for  words  or  fail  to  suit  the  action  to  them : 
and,  however  easy  the  pages,  the  chapters  move 
with  conscious  strength;  and  the  whole  is  one; 
it  falls  with  the  force  of  a  blow. 

There  is  a  moral  to  Dorothy  Thorn ;  there  are 
more  than  one.  She  is  made  to  live  for  something 
beyond  the  reader's  diversion.  What  that  purpose 
is,  or  what  those  purposes  are,  is  not  set  down  in 
the  book ;  but  nobody  reads  and  asks.  It  is  high 
in  the  sense  of  being  good ;  and  good  in  the  sense 
of  being  successful.  It  touches  the  question  of 
questions,  work ;  and  the  wisdom  comes  from  two 
women  who  do  not  work.  It  touches  never  so 
lightly  the  rising  question,  the  sphere  of  woman  — 
the  wisdom  on  that  is  said  in  a  dozen  words  by  a 
woman  who  has  never  given  her  ' '  sphere "  an 
anxious  thought. 

Dorothy  Thorn  of  Thornton.  By  Julian  Warth.  276  pages. 
12mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

There  is  hardly  a  less  promising  condition  out 
of  which  to  write  a  novel  than  having  a  hobby  to 
ride ;  and  of  hobbies  what  can  be  less  picturesque 
than  the  question  how  we  who  work  and  we  who 
tirect  are  going  to  get  on  together  harmoniously  f 

t 


,  But,  when  a  novel  is  full  of  every  hlgn  satisfac- 
tton,  refreshment  and  gratification  in  spite  of  its 
carrying  freight  of  practical  wisdom,  or  rather, 
when  wisdom  itself  is  a  part  of  the  feast  and  the 
flow  of  soul  is  all  the  more  refreshing  for  it,  then, 
we  take  it,  that  novel  stands  apart  from  the  novels 
of  any  time  or  country.  And  such  is  the  Dorothy 
Thorn  of  Julian  Warth.  Not  the  loftiest  flight  of 
imagination ;  simple  in  plot  —  indeed  there  is  no 
plot  —  the  passing  of  time  lets  the  story  go  on, 
and  it  goes  the  easy  way ;  and,  when  it  is  done,  it 
is  done.  We  close  the  book  with  regret.  The 
exaltation  has  passed;  and  we  are  again  in  the 
world  where  wisdom  is  tame  and  common  tilings 
bereft  of  their  dignity.  But  we  have  sat  with  the 
gods  and  the  nectar  was  heavenly. 


Stories  have  not  run  out ;  but  we  often  think, 
as  we  read  some  quaint  and  simple  tale  that  be 
longs  to  another  time  or  people,  "  how  good  the 
stories  were  in  those  days !  "  or  "  they  are  better 
story-tellers  than  ours!"  The  truth  is,  good 
stories  are  rare  and  live  forever.  To-day  may 
lose  them ;  to-morrow  finds  them. 

Swiss  Stories  for  Children  and  for  those  who  Lore  Children. 
From  the  German  of  Madame  Spyri  by  Lucy  Wheelock.  214 
pages.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.00. 

So  true  to  child  life  and  family  life,  they  belong 
to  us  as  truly  as  to  the  Swiss  mountaineers. 

Some  of  these  have  delighted  English  ears 
before. 


As  a  people  we  hold  opinions  concerning  the 
rest  of  the  world  notoriously  incomplete.  A  book 
that  makes  us  familiar  with  life  abroad  as  it 
really  is  is  a  public  benefit  as  well  as  a  source  of 
pleasure. 

The  common  saying  goes :  there  is  nothing  like 
travel  for  opening  one's  eyes  to  the  size  of  the 
world,  to  the  diversity  of  ways  of  thinking  and 
living,  and  to  the  very  little  chance  of  our  having 
hit  on  the  true  interpretation  of  everything;  no 
education  is  so  broadening.  But  it  is  true  that 
few  have  the  aptness  at  seeing  strange  things  in  a 
way  to  comprehend  them;  and  to  see  and  mis 
judge  is  almost  worse  than  not  to  see  at  all. 

There  is  no  preparation  for  travel  or  substitute 
for  it  that  goes  so  far  towards  mending  our  recep 
tivity  or  ignorance  as  an  agreeable  book  that 
really  takes  one  into  the  whole  of  the  life  one  pro 
poses  to  study.  There  is  an  excellent  one  out  just 
now. 

Life  Among  the  Germans.  Bj  Emma  Louise  Puny.  340 
pages.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.50. 

The  wonder  of  it  is  :  it  is  written  by  a  student- 
girl! — that  a  girl  has  the  judgment,  the  tact,  the 
self-suppressing  watchfulness,  the  adaptability, 
freshness  and  readiness,  teachableness,  the  charm- 
Ing  spirit  and  manner  that  lets  her  into  the  inside 
Tiew  of  everything,  makes  her  welcome  in  homes 
and  intimate  social  gatherings,  not  as  one  of 
themselves,  but  as  a  foreigner-learner ;  and  added 
to  all  these  splendid  endowments  the  gift  of  easy- 
flowing  narrative,  light  in  feeling  and  full  of  sub 
stance  ! 

The  book  is  wonderfully  full  in  the  sense  of 
solidity.  Sentence  piled  on  sentence.  Little  dis 
course;  all  observation;  participation.  You  see 
and  share ;  and  you  rise  from  the  reading,  not 


with  a  jumble  of  unconnected  information,  but 
With  a  clear  impression  of  having  met  the  people 
and  lived  in  the  fatherland.  You  know  the  Ger 
mans  as  you  might  not  get  to  know  them  if  you 
lived  for  a  year  or  two  among  them. 


Nobody  but  Mrs.  Diaz  could  get  so  much  wit, 
good  sense,  and  bright  nonsense  out  of  barn 
lectures  before  an  audience  of  nine  by  a  philoso 
pher  of  eight  years  and  a  month.  But  trust  the 
author  of  the  Cat  Book,  the  William  Henry  Letters-, 
Lucy  Maria,  Polly  Cologne  and  the  Jimmyjohni?. 

The  John  Spicer  Lectures.  By  Abby  Morton  Diaz.  99 
pages.  16mo,  60  cents. 

All  in  perfect  gravity.  These  are  the  subjects : 
Christmas  Tree,  Knives,  Swapping,  Clothes,  Food, 
Money.  And  the  passages  where  the  applause 
came  in  are  noted.  The  applause  and  groans  are 
often  important  parts  of  the  text. 

•— — — ^ 

Excellent  reading  are  sketches  of  eminent  men 
and  women  if  only  they  are  bright  enough  to 
make  one  wish  they  were  longer.  A  great  deal 
of  insight  into  histoiy,  character,  human  nature, 
is  to  be  got  from  just  such  sketches. 

Here  are  two  bookf  uls  of  them : 

Stories  of  Great  Men  and  Stories  of  Remarkable  Women. 
Both  by  Faye  Huntington.  136  and  99  pages.  16mo,  cloth, 
60  cents  each. 

Both  the  great  men  and  remarkable  women,  of 
whom  by  the  way  there  are  twenty-six  and  twenty- 
two,  are  chosen  from  many  sorts  of  eminence ; 
but  they  are  sketched  in  a  way  to  draw  from  the 
life  of  each  some  pleasant  practical  lesson.  Not 
designed  for  Sunday  Schools  apparently  j  but  good 
there. 


Can  you  imagine  a  more  welcome  visitor  than  a 
civilized  Chinaman  with  the  recollections  of  the 
flowery  land  still  fresh,  but  seeing  with  our  eyes 
and  estimating  by  our  weights  and  measures,  and 
gifted  with  a  tolerable  English  tongue? 

"When  I  was  a  Boy  in  China.  By  Yan  Phou  Lee.  112  pages 
16mo.  cloth,  60  cents. 

The  author,  grandson  of  a  mandarin,  son  of  a 
merchant,  born  in '61,  went  to  the  Government 
School  at  Shanghai,  and  in  '73  was  chosen  one  of 
the  thirty  sent  to  the  United  States  to  be  educa 
ted. 

He  writes  on :  Infancy ;  House  and  Household  ; 
Cookery;  Games  and  Pastimes;  Girls  of  My  Ac 
quaintance;  School  and  School-life;  Religions; 
Holidays;  Stories  and  Story- tellers  (gives  a  speci 
men  story) ;  How  I  Went  to  Shanghai ;  How  I 
Prepared  for  America ;  First  Experiences. 

The  narrative  is  personal.  Jumps  right  into 
it.  Tells  of  himself  as  a  baby,  of  course  from 
knowledge  of  what  happens  to  boy  oabies  there. 
Illustrates  Lowell's  commendation  of  President 
Lincoln's  English  —  "  strikes  but  once  and  so  well 
that  he  needn't  strike  but  once."  An  easy  writer, 
graceful  enough,  but  quick  and  done  with  it;  full 
of  his  subject,  and  yet  not  over-fond ;  impatient 
lest  his  reader  tire.  He  need  not  hurry.  We  are 
eager  listeners,  not  at  all  critical. 

An  American  boy  of  twelve  beginning  life  in  the 
heart  of  China  and  writing  a  book  at  twenty-six 
"  When  I  was  a  Boy  in  America  "  would  indeed  be 
a  remarkable  man  to  write  so  well ! 

May  Yan  Phou  Lee  have  a  million  readers ! 


T 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

RENEWED  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  IMMEDIATE 
RECALL 


LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-25m-6,'66(G3855s4)458 


90356 

Brown,  E»E« 

The  life  and  public 
services  of  James  A» 
Garfield. 


E68? 
B7 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF   CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


